Sri Lanka troops inside key Elephant Pass - govt
(Adds details, background)
By Ranga Sirilal and C. Bryson Hull
COLOMBO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops are fighting inside Elephant Pass, the strategic gateway to the Jaffna Peninsula held by the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, the government said on Friday.
"We haven't captured it. We are moving in and fighting is going on," defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, who is also a minister, told Reuters. Some media reports said it had been captured, but Rambukwella said that was premature.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could not be reached for comment, but have repeatedly vowed to reverse a string of defeats that have prompted many to ask if a ground war that started in 1983 is finally nearing its end.
The former army base is as strategic as it is symbolic for the military. Its capture will put all of Jaffna in government hands for the first time since 2000, when the army lost Elephant Pass in one of its worst defeats in the 25-year war.
It will also open up the main north-south A-9 road linking Jaffna to the mainland, freeing up a mechanised division to join the battle now moving east toward the LTTE's last stronghold in the eastern port of Mullaittivu and its environs.
The LTTE have been fighting one of Asia's longest insurgencies to create a separate state for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils, many of whom complain of mistreatment since the Sinhalese ethnic majority took over at independence from Britain in 1948.
But many Sinhalese say Tamils enjoyed unfair advantages in terms of education and government jobs in colonial times. The Tigers are on U.S., E.U. and Indian terrorism lists after carrying out hundreds of assassinations and suicide bombings, including against Tamils who challenged them.
TIGERS ON THE RUN
The bulk of ethnically Tamil Jaffna has been under military control since 1995, but the Tigers had until this week held a mine- and bunker-strewn 12 km (7 mile) by 6 km (3.5 mile) strip on the narrow neck connecting to the mainland.
All that changed when the army captured the rebels' self-proclaimed capital of Kilinochchi a week ago, which freed up three divisions of soldiers to attack the Jaffna theatre from the north and south simultaneously.
The military and analysts have said the Tigers have been moving their heavy weapons and battle-hardened personnel estimated to number around 2,000 toward Mullaittivu, facing heavy odds in both Kilinochchi and Jaffna.
Caught in the war zone are what aid groups estimate to be around 230,000 civilians who fled their homes.
Rights groups say the Tigers do not let them leave and use them as human shields, forcible conscripts and battlefield labourers. Those that do escape, end up in government camps where they face scrutiny as LTTE sympathisers, rights groups say.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa says the government is committed to keeping civilians safe, upon which the international community and giant neighbour India insist. The LTTE denies it mistreats civilians and says they support their cause.
Past civilian crises in the war zone led to outside intervention in the war, which Rajapaksa is keen to avoid with victory close at hand and his plan to capitalise on that with early elections seeming more likely, analysts say. (Editing by Bill Tarrant)
By Ranga Sirilal and C. Bryson Hull
COLOMBO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops are fighting inside Elephant Pass, the strategic gateway to the Jaffna Peninsula held by the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, the government said on Friday.
"We haven't captured it. We are moving in and fighting is going on," defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella, who is also a minister, told Reuters. Some media reports said it had been captured, but Rambukwella said that was premature.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could not be reached for comment, but have repeatedly vowed to reverse a string of defeats that have prompted many to ask if a ground war that started in 1983 is finally nearing its end.
The former army base is as strategic as it is symbolic for the military. Its capture will put all of Jaffna in government hands for the first time since 2000, when the army lost Elephant Pass in one of its worst defeats in the 25-year war.
It will also open up the main north-south A-9 road linking Jaffna to the mainland, freeing up a mechanised division to join the battle now moving east toward the LTTE's last stronghold in the eastern port of Mullaittivu and its environs.
The LTTE have been fighting one of Asia's longest insurgencies to create a separate state for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils, many of whom complain of mistreatment since the Sinhalese ethnic majority took over at independence from Britain in 1948.
But many Sinhalese say Tamils enjoyed unfair advantages in terms of education and government jobs in colonial times. The Tigers are on U.S., E.U. and Indian terrorism lists after carrying out hundreds of assassinations and suicide bombings, including against Tamils who challenged them.
TIGERS ON THE RUN
The bulk of ethnically Tamil Jaffna has been under military control since 1995, but the Tigers had until this week held a mine- and bunker-strewn 12 km (7 mile) by 6 km (3.5 mile) strip on the narrow neck connecting to the mainland.
All that changed when the army captured the rebels' self-proclaimed capital of Kilinochchi a week ago, which freed up three divisions of soldiers to attack the Jaffna theatre from the north and south simultaneously.
The military and analysts have said the Tigers have been moving their heavy weapons and battle-hardened personnel estimated to number around 2,000 toward Mullaittivu, facing heavy odds in both Kilinochchi and Jaffna.
Caught in the war zone are what aid groups estimate to be around 230,000 civilians who fled their homes.
Rights groups say the Tigers do not let them leave and use them as human shields, forcible conscripts and battlefield labourers. Those that do escape, end up in government camps where they face scrutiny as LTTE sympathisers, rights groups say.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa says the government is committed to keeping civilians safe, upon which the international community and giant neighbour India insist. The LTTE denies it mistreats civilians and says they support their cause.
Past civilian crises in the war zone led to outside intervention in the war, which Rajapaksa is keen to avoid with victory close at hand and his plan to capitalise on that with early elections seeming more likely, analysts say. (Editing by Bill Tarrant)
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