SRI Lankan troops yesterday began their first deliberate advance on Tamil Tiger rebels since a ceasefire four years ago, moving to secure a rebel-held water supply and using air strikes to hold off rebel reinforcements. | Those awful Lankans! Handwringing to commence in 3...2... |
More than 800 people have been killed so far this year and the rebels' decision to close off a water channel from an eastern rebel-held area to government-held farms prompted a surge in violence in recent days, including air and artillery strikes. | Oh. No handwringing when the rebels seize the water supply. |
Ground forces were yesterday sent to secure the channel that irrigates farms in the area - south of the port of Trincomalee - most of which are owned by ethnic majority Sinhalese. The government said troops came under mortar fire from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) but no-one was wounded. "The LTTE are trying to move reinforcements to the area," government minister and spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. "We are bombing areas where we believe their fighters are. This is a humanitarian operation." The Tigers said they knew nothing of any bombing but had been under continuous artillery fire in the east. They said they suffered no casualties yesterday, but lost eight fighters to an air strike on Saturday. The government put rebel deaths much higher.
As night fell, the army said the advance had slowed with soldiers still well short of the sluice gate and picking their way cautiously through minefields and booby traps. Both the government and the Tigers claim control over the site of the reservoir, but the reality on the ground was that the LTTE controlled the area, military sources said. The Tigers, who want a separate ethnic Tamil homeland and pulled out of peace talks in April as violence soared, denied shutting the sluice gate and said it was done by local Tamil civilians angry at the government. Local Tiger political leader S Elilan said: "If the military advance into our area they will see the consequences in a very strong manner." |