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| Sri Lanka |
| Sri Lanka about to seize rebel capital |
| 2009-01-02 |
| Sri Lankan forces captured a key crossroads from Tamil Tiger rebels in the north Thursday and were likely to seize the guerrillas' de facto capital within two days, the military said. The fall of Kilinochchi would be the government's most significant victory in its renewed offensive against the rebels. President Mahinda Rajapaksa has promised to crush the separatists and end the nation's 25-year-old civil war in the coming year. Senior officials have said repeatedly over the past two months that Kilinochchi's fall was imminent, but troops became bogged down by heavy rains and fierce rebel resistance. Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said Thursday that the capture of the strategic Paranthan junction earlier in the day -- after about six weeks of fighting -- left troops within about a mile (two kilometres) of the town on both the north and the south. "Kilinochchi will fall within the next 48 hours," he said. The rebels could not immediately be reached for comment. But Tamil Tiger political leader Balisingham Nadesan told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the group began as guerrillas and would be able to keep fighting even if it lost much of the northern lands it controlled for more than a decade. "We are used to all types of wars," he said. |
| Posted by:Fred |