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Sri Lanka rebels claim advances

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Sri Lanka rebels claim advances

Saturday, August 12, 2006 Posted: 0623 GMT (1423 HKT)

A Sri Lankan military helicopter fires flares Saturday as it flies over Trincomalee

Sri Lanka

Civil Unrest

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Manage Alerts | What Is This? COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Reuters) -- Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Saturday they had broken through army defenses in the island's far north and were advancing on the government-held Jaffna peninsula, in the fiercest fighting since a 2002 truce.

The Tigers said they had destroyed army checkpoints and were advancing along the main A9 arterial road that connects Jaffna to their stronghold.

Aid workers reported pockets of fighting inside government territory near army defense lines and truce monitors received reports of fighting on beaches near Jaffna. Residents said hundreds were fleeing fishing villages near Jaffna.

The military said it still controlled the whole peninsula and had killed 100 Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, but said a few might have got through. The Navy said it had sunk five Sea Tiger boats near Jaffna.

"We have completely destroyed the army checkpoints at the Muhamalai (border) crossing, and we are advancing on Jaffna," a Tiger official at the rebel Voice of Tigers radio station told Reuters, asking not to be named.

He said that the rebels' feared Sea Tiger wing had attacked just south of Jaffna town and assaulted a navy base at the island's northern tip before dawn. Hundreds of residents fled villages near Jaffna, and sought refuge in Catholic churches. Expatriates headed to a UN compound after being warned to leave immediately.

Around 40,000 troops are stationed in Jaffna, which is cut off from the rest of the island by rebel territory.

Artillery fire

In the east of the island, the Tigers rained artillery on the strategic port of Trincomalee, a vital maritime army supply line to Jaffna, before dawn. The military said there was some damage, but gave no details.

A Reuters witness in Jaffna, where the army has declared an indefinite curfew to keep people in their homes, heard a fierce exchange of artillery fire to the east, and said electricity to the town had died.

Sri Lanka's Tamils consider Jaffna their cultural homeland, and analysts say the Tigers are intent on recapturing it.

Some distraught residents dread being displaced yet again.

"We cannot go on like this forever," said Richard, a retired Tamil merchant seaman, refusing to give his family name. "I incurred heavy financial losses when I was displaced in 1995, and it took me some time to rebuild my house."

"It is better to hand over Jaffna to the LTTE. Only then will this stop. Until then, this war will go on."

Robban Nilsson of the unarmed Nordic truce monitoring mission said government fighting on new fronts in the north and east was very worrying.

Fight over water

The military accused the Tigers of provoking the northern confrontation and the government has said it will not halt operations until it controls a disputed waterway in the east and an irrigation reservoir that feeds it. This was the issue which sparked the fighting 18 days ago.

The Tigers insist the land is theirs and say continued army attacks are effectively a declaration of war. Monitors said nearly 300 majority Sinhalese civilians in government areas had been given assault rifles near the sluice area.

"The problem is the government basically started this. I think we are inclined to sit back and let them take it on the chin for a while," said one diplomat from a G7 country.

North of the town of Batticaloa towards a sluice gate on the waterway, the Red Cross say at least 15,000 Tamils are displaced behind rebel lines having spent days under shellfire. A further 30,000 people are in camps in government territory.

The Tigers have long demanded a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka but President Mahinda Rajapakse has ruled this out. The rebels say any return to stalled peace talks is a distant prospect.

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/asiapcf/...tion=cnn_latest

"It is better to hand over Jaffna to the LTTE. Only then will this stop. Until then, this war will go on."

8) 8) 8)

வடிவேலு லொல்லு கூடிப்போச்சு.

கொப்பி அடிக்கும் நிருபர். நன்றி நிருபர் நேற்று இரவு முதல் யாழ்களத்தோடு இருக்கின்றீர்கள். பலாலி விழுமட்டும் போகமாட்டியளோ?

இராணுவ கடற்படை இல்லாத யாழ்ப்பாணம் வேண்டும். அதுவே சுதந்திர தமிழீழத்திற்கான அடிஅத்திவாரம். அதற்கான போர்ப்பறை ஊதப்பட்டு விட்டது.

  • தொடங்கியவர்

வடிவேலு லொல்லு கூடிப்போச்சு.

கொப்பி அடிக்கும் நிருபர். நன்றி நிருபர் நேற்று இரவு முதல் யாழ்களத்தோடு இருக்கின்றீர்கள். பலாலி விழுமட்டும் போகமாட்டியளோ?

பலாலி மட்டும் இல்லை குருவிக்கு ஆப்பு ஏத்தும் வரையும் தான் :P

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