COLOMBO, March 13 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops killed 32 Tamil Tiger separatists in intense fighting in what the government says are the final battles of Asia's longest-running civil war, the military said on Friday. Sri Lanka's military has surrounded the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a 37 sq km (15 sq miles) of the island nation's northeastern coast and is fighting to deal a death blow to a civil war that has raged off and on since 1983.| This is how you solve a long-running civil war. Norway take note ... |
Combat operations now are concentrated on the last town the separatist LTTE holds and commanders say nearly all of the Tamil Tigers' top guerrillas including leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran are in that area, with some personally commanding the battles. Troops are inside the town and have just a few kilometres to go before they reach a lagoon on its eastern edge, across from which is a 12-km coastal strip set up as a no-fire zone. Tens of thousands of civilians are inside the area.