Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Jun 01, 2009

Mystery shrouds presence of British woman in Tiger territory
B. Muralidhar Reddy

MANIK FARM COMPLEX (Vavuniya): A British woman citizen, Damilvany Gnanakumar, – known as Vani – being questioned by the Sri Lankan authorities after she fled along with the last batch of civilians from the LTTE’s clutches has raised two vital questions. How did she land in the island nation and how did she stay on in the Tiger-controlled territory for nearly 15 months?

Ms. Vani, presumably in her 20s, was among the last batch of 80,000 civilians to flee from the Tiger territory and is said to have told the Sri Lankan authorities that she was ‘working’ at a make-shift hospital there.

The military and Foreign Office said that investigations were on to find out details of her arrival sometime in February 2008 and who facilitated her travel to the LTTE area. “Unless she had contacts in Wanni, there is no way she could travel into the Tiger-held territory. We are looking into all aspects of the curious case,” a senior official in the government told The Hindu.

The Guardian, which carried a front page report on the presence of Ms. Vani in Sri Lanka, does not throw light on how she ended up in the LTTE territory at a juncture when the military and the Tigers were engaged in a full-fledged war.

The paper said, Ms. Vani, “who was working at a hospital helping victims of Sri Lanka’s civil war has been interned in one of the island’s detention camps, prompting her family to plead for urgent diplomatic help to secure her immediate release.”

Quoting her relatives the paper said that she was detained a fortnight ago as the Army moved in to finish off the remnants of the “Tamil Tiger rebels after a military onslaught that left thousands dead and sent many more fleeing for their lives.”

With a background in biomedical science, Ms. Vani had called the family home in Chingford, Essex, on May 19. On May 18 the military had declared that it had finished off the remaining cadres and leaders of the LTTE holed up in a 500 sq. km. land along the Mullaithivu coast. The following day the military said its troops had recovered the body of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran near a lagoon.

“I’m in this camp, you have to get me out of here,’ but then the phone went dead,” The Guardian quoted her sister, Subha Mohanathas, 29 as saying on May 29. Her sister has been further quoted as saying that her mother, Lathaa, 45, was desperately worried, but she believed that her sister would pull through.

A senior official in the government asked, “If Ms. Vani is interned in one of the island’s detention centres, how could she establish contact with her family?”

The paper quoted her sister saying, “I just want my sister back with me as soon as possible. My mum is crying and we need her back. We didn’t have anything to do with the war.”

The paper further said that diplomatic efforts to secure her release have so far been unsuccessful and on Saturday night her family appealed to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa to allow her to return to the UK.

Government officials said the British mission in Colombo had never brought it to the notice of the Foreign Office that one of its citizens has gone missing.

As per the British paper’s report, Gnanakumar’s family arrived in the U.K. as refugees from Jaffna in November 1994.

“She married in 2003, but the relationship was troubled and in February 2008 she returned to Sri Lanka without telling anyone she was leaving.

“The family said that Gnanakumar had been staying in Mullivaykkal — the scene of some of the heaviest fighting — and had called in January to say that she had been caught up in the conflict and was unable to leave. On May 12 they saw her on a Tamil television programme working in a hospital.”

Appeal for help

The paper said that her father, Kandasamy Kumaran, 51, who has written to his MP, Iain Duncan Smith, appealing for help, said she had come into contact with some doctors and had said she was willing to help because of her background in biomedical science. She had also had training and work experience at a British hospital.

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Family urges Sri Lanka to release Damilvany Gnanakumar, who treated victims of conflict, from detention camp

Damilvany Gnanakumar, who was detained a fortnight ago,

had been working in temporary hospitals in Sri Lanka's no-fire zone.

Photograph: Gethin Chamberlain

A British woman who was working at a hospital helping victims of Sri Lanka's civil war has been interned in one of the island's detention camps, prompting her family to plead for urgent diplomatic help to secure her immediate release.

Speaking to the Guardian, relatives of Damilvany Gnanakumar – known as Vany – said that she was detained a fortnight ago as the Sri Lankan army moved in to finish off the remnants of the Tamil Tiger rebels after a military onslaught that left thousands dead and sent many more fleeing for their lives.

The British passport holder, who has a background in biomedical science, called the family home in Chingford, Essex, on 19 May, to beg for help.

"She said: 'I'm in this camp, you have to get me out of here,' but then the phone went dead," said her sister, Subha Mohanathas, 29, yesterday. She said that her mother, Lathaa, 45, was desperately worried, but she believed that her sister would pull through.

"Vany is one of the strongest people, she can do whatever she likes because she is not really frightened of anything.

"I just want my sister back with me as soon as possible. My mum is crying and we need her back. We didn't have anything to do with the war."

Gnanakumar had spent the last few months working in temporary hospitals in the no-fire zone, where doctors have struggled to save the lives of civilians injured during intense fighting.

Diplomatic efforts to secure her release have so far been unsuccessful and last night her family appealed to the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to allow her to return to the UK.

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She is being held in the Menik Farm camps outside the town of Vavuniya, a sprawling, sweltering expanse of tents across hundreds of acres of barren scrubland.

Gnanakumar's family arrived in the UK as refugees from Jaffna, in Sri Lanka, in November 1994. She married in 2003, but the relationship was troubled and in February 2008 she returned to Sri Lanka without telling anyone she was leaving.

The family said that Gnanakumar had been staying in Mullivaykkal - the scene of some of the heaviest fighting - and had called in January to say that she had been caught up in the conflict and was unable to leave. On 12 May they saw her on a Tamil television programme working in a hospital.

"We had not heard anything from her until then, we didn't know whether she was still alive, whether something had happened to her," said Mohanthas.

Her father, Kandasamy Kumaran, 51, who has written to his MP, Iain Duncan Smith, appealing for help, said she had come into contact with some doctors and had said she was willing to help because of her background in biomedical science. She had also had training and work experience at a British hospital, he said.

"She was recruited by the Mullivaykkal hospital to help and nurse the injured. In fact, I saw her [on television] assisting and looking after the wounded patients," he said.

Gnanukumar's uncle, Navaratnasamy Naguleswaran, said the family had decided to make a public appeal because they were concerned that attempts to secure her release through the Foreign Office had so far proven unsuccessful.

He said the family had received a call last Friday from the Foreign Office to say that it was seeking her release, but that information since then had been sparse.

In an email to the family, the Foreign Office said that staff from the British high commission in Colombo had been in touch with the Sri Lankan ministry of defence, via a military liaison officer, to arrange a phone call between Gnanakumar and her family in the UK and "to expedite her early release".

The email said that the liaison officer would send instructions to his colleagues in Vavuniya to initiate the screening process of Gnanakumar and that once that was complete, "they will be able to take a decision on her release". A British high commission spokesman said: "We are in discussions with the government of Sri Lanka and are actively seeking her release and return to the UK."

Mahinda Samarasinghe, the Sri Lankan human rights minister, was unavailable for comment last night.

But last week, he insisted that the Sri Lankan government was determined to return those held in the camps to their homes at the earliest possible opportunity.

"These are our people and we are going to ensure that they are resettled," he said.

But he added that the government needed time to screen those being held in the camps to establish whether or not they were members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). An estimated 270,000 people are being held in camps in the north of Sri Lanka. The government says that it has so far identified more than 9,000 former LTTE members.

In an exclusive interview with the Guardian from the no-fire zone on 13 May, Gnanakumar described the horrors of the final days of the 26-year war. A shell had exploded at the hospital where she was working, killing 47 people.

"This is really a disaster. I don't know really how to explain it. At the moment, it is like hell," she said at the time. "For us, shell bombing is just a normal thing now. It is like an everyday routine. We have reached a point where it's like death is not a problem at all."

The Sri Lankan government maintains that civilian casualties were the result of attacks by the LTTE designed to generate adverse publicity for the military. But the UN has described the civilian toll as "unacceptably high". Estimates for the death toll this year alone range from 8,000 to more than double that number.

Tamil Tigers confirm leader's death

The government released footage of Prabhakaran's body after speculation he could still be alive [AFP] The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have confirmed their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, has been killed. "We announce today, with inexpressible sadness and heavy hearts that our incomparable leader and supreme commander ... attained martyrdom fighting the military oppression," Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the LTTE's head of international relations, said in a statement on Sunday. The Tigers said Prabhakaran had been killed on Tuesday during fighting between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan military and declared a week of mourning. The military had previously announced Prabhakaran, 54, was shot on Monday while travelling in a small convoy of vehicles in a bid to escape the final battle between the two sides. 'Final request' The LTTE statement read: "For over three decades, our leader was the heart and soul and the symbol of hope, pride and determination for the whole nation of people of Tamil Eelam," Focus: Sri Lanka Sri Lanka's uneasy peace Profile: Velupillai Prabhakaran Q&A: Sri Lanka's civil war The history of the Tamil Tigers Timeline: Conflict in Sri Lanka Tamil diaspora sceptical over 'win' "Since the failure of the peace process and the escalation of the war forced upon the Tamil people, the LTTE was faced [sic] to confront the Sri Lankan military that was supported by the world powers. "This deliberate bias and position taken by the international community severely weakened the military position of the LTTE. "Our leader confronted this threat without any hesitation. He would not waver in his desire to be with his people and fight for his people till the end. "His final request was for the struggle to continue until we achieved the freedom for his people. "His legend and the historical status as the Greatest Tamil Leader ever are indestructible," Pathmanathan said in the statement. Body 'cremated' The Sri Lankan authorities have not published a post mortem examination report or officially confirmed how or when he died. A government spokesman said on Tuesday that the body would be given to an undertaker, but General Sarath Fonseka, Sri Lanka's army chief, told the privately-run Sunday Rivira that the body had been cremated and his ashes thrown in the sea. Fonseka said Pottu Amman, the LTTE intelligence chief, and Prabhakaran's wife, Mathiwadini, were among the dead, but have yet to be officially identified. The government released footage of Prabhakaran's body for the first time on Tuesday after a pro-LTTE website, Tamilnet, denied the government's announcement that he had been killed. Sri Lanka said Sunday it would not allow aid workers complete access to civilians who remain held in camps after the conflict, saying LTTE remnants still remained among the refugees.

Obituary: Velupillai Prabhakaran

Prabhakaran, centre, posed with pilots before a suicide air raid on Colombo in February 2009 [AFP] He was a man with little education from a small fishing village in northern Sri Lanka, but Velupillai Prabhakaran founded and led one of the most ruthless and committed separatist organisations the world has seen. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or Tamil Tigers, began as a small movement combating what he saw as the injustice and discrimination against the Tamil people. At its height, the Tigers were a powerful guerrilla force of about 30,000 fighters backed up by a sophisticated worldwide support network for money and arms. To his followers, Prabhakaran was a dedicated freedom fighter, struggling for the emancipation of his people. Others, however, considered him to be a power-hungry maniac with no regard for human life. Prabhakaran groomed the LTTE into a powerful separatist movement [AFP] Under his leadership, the Tamil Tigers fought for self determination from Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority, declaring their own state of Tamil Elam stretching from Jaffna in the north to Batticoloa in the East. After the anti-Tamil "Black July" riots in 1983 when an estimated 5,000 Tamils were killed by Sinhalese mobs, many Tamils came to see Prabhakaran as their protector. He eradicated the inequalities of the Hindu caste system and young men and women flocked to join his ranks. The Tigers' leader gave few interviews, but was said to have been fascinated by Napoleon and Alexander the Great. He was a strong orator and inspired a devoted following among many of his fighting men and women. However, according to some former associates, there was also a ruthless side to his character. "If someone was against him, he never gave them a chance, he ordered them killed," Colonel Karuna Amman, a former Tamil Tiger commander, told Al Jazeera. "A lot of intellectuals were killed by him." Cyanide capsule Prabhakaran himself was reported to carry a cyanide capsule around his neck and encouraged fighters to do the same, saying it was better to take their own life than be captured alive by government soldiers. For nearly 30 years, LTTE fighters launched devastating attacks across the country [AP} Hundreds of Tiger cadres did just that, in a stark demonstration of loyalty to the man and the cause. Critics, however, said it was also a clear case of brainwashing. During three decades of conflict, Prabhakaran's Tamil Tigers launched a series of devastating attacks on government targets, sapping military morale and taking the lives of thousands of soldiers. In 2001, the Tigers launched an audacious attack on Colombo's international airport, destroying half the fleet of the national airline as well as several military aircraft at a nearby base. Six years later the same base was the target of the Tigers' first aerial attack, using an aircraft thought to have been smuggled into the country in pieces and reassembled. Another particularly devastating tactic introduced by Prabhakaran was the use of suicide attacks. Suicide wing In the 1980s he created a suicide wing of the LTTE known as the Black Tigers, which went on to carry out hundreds of bombings and killings. As leader he would always have a final dinner with the bomber the night before they headed off on their mission. One such bomber is thought to have been responsible for the 1991 assassination of Rajiv Ghandi, the former Indian prime minister. It was one of the actions that led to many countries declaring the LTTE a terrorist organisation – a move that Tamil critics of Prabhakaran say signalled the beginning of the end of their liberation struggle. In 2002 after years of bitter fighting, Prabhakaran signed up to a Norwegian-brokered peace initiative. The ceasefire lasted for four years eventually breaking down following a series of fierce clashes. Ingenuity As the war resumed with even more ferocity, the Sri Lankan government increased the size of the army and spent heavily on more weapons. The initial aims of the LTTE were to fight for a separate Tamil homeland [AFP] The Tigers responded by using their ingenuity to attempt ever more daring and dramatic raids, including one airborne suicide attack on Colombo and a military air base near the capital in early 2009. Following that attack, the LTTE released a photograph showing Prabhakaran proudly posed with the two pilots about to set off on their mission. It was one of the last images released of the elusive Tamil Tigers leader, who had not been seen in public for many months. During the final months and days of the conflict, Prabhakaran was thought to have commanded his forces from the safety of underground bunkers in Sri Lanka's dense jungle. In February, government troops captured a two-storey air-conditioned bunker hidden in a coconut grove in northern Sri Lanka's Mullaittivu district. The dugout was thought to have been one of Prabhakaran's main bases. Pictures released by the Sri Lankan defence ministry purported to show that he had left behind a stuffed tiger, a paintball gun and a bottle of Cognac.

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Sri Lanka declares 'final victory'

Prabhakan's son Charles Anthony was found dead along with three senior Tamil officials [AFP] Sri Lanka's army says it has ended its war with the Tamil Tigers after killing 250 separatist fighters, including the group's leader, his son and three senior officials. Lieutenant-General Sarath Fonseka, the head of the Sri Lankan army, said in a statement on Monday that troops had overrun the last sliver of territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "Over 250 dead bodies of terrorists are scattered over the last ditch," he said. "All military operations have come to a stop. Now the entire country is declared rid of terrorism." Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the Sri Lankan military spokesman, told Al Jazeera: "The capability of the LTTE [is] now being completely destroyed." Tiger leader killed Earlier, military sources said the body of Velupillai Prabhakan, the leader and founder of the LTTE, often called the Tamil Tigers, was found in an ambulance destroyed by troops as it sped out of the war zone. Focus: Sri Lanka Q&A: Sri Lanka's civil war The history of the Tamil Tigers Timeline: Conflict in Sri Lanka Minelle Fernandez, reporting from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, said that reports on how Praphakan died remained unclear. "There are stories that the army fired an RPG at a vehicle carrying Prabhakaran and two other senior leaders and there are reports that he was shot while fleeing." If he is confirmed to have been killed it would "spell the end of the organisation that has been built almost around the cult Prabhakaran", she said. "It is a surprise that it has fallen and literally brought to its knees and been defeated this quickly." Leaders found dead The news came hours after the military said it had found the bodies of four other senior Tamil Tigers, including Prabhakaran's 24-year-old son Charles Anthony. Puleedevan was among the senior officials reportedly killed by the army [File: AFP] The senior LTTE officials found dead include Balasingham Nadesan, the head of the political wing, Seevaratnam Puleedevan, and S Ramesh, the separatists' eastern leader, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, said. A spokesman for Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankan president, said a formal announcement on Prabhakan's death would be made at 6pm (12:30 GMT). The defence ministry said troops also killed Prabhakaran's deputies - Soosai, the leader of the Sea Tigers, and Pottu Amman, the LTTE's intelligence chief. There has been no comment from the LTTE on the claims. Winning the peace Al Jazeera's Tony Birtley said: "The conventional guerilla fighting forces of the Tamil Tigers is probably now finished. In video Army closes in on Tamil Tiger separatists Sri Lankans celebrate end of war "Depending on what happens in the peace process, the fear is that this may develop into guerilla war again ... but what about the peace? There are not many left to talk to. "A lot of mistrust has developed over the years; I think that's the reason why this conflict began. Now it's a problem that both sides have to make themselves understood." The military had refused to accept a ceasefire from the Tamil Tigers, which had offered to lay down its arms on Sunday, declaring that its 26-year battle with the government had come to a "bitter end". The army, having declared victory on Saturday, described Monday's activities as "mopping up" operations. Keheliya Rambukwella, a defence ministry spokesman, told Al Jazeera that the government had "had enough of ceasefires" and that any cessation of hostilities would happen only if it protected civilians. "As usual, they [Tamil Tigers] are going to strengthen and rearm themselves," he said. The government maintains that the tens of thousands of civilians who had been trapped in the small area of conflict in the northeast of the country had finally been able to leave on Sunday. 'Conflict not resolved' Far from the battlefield, thousands of Sri Lankans hugged soldiers, waved flags, set off firecrackers and danced to the beat of traditional drums in the streets of the capital, Colombo, celebrating the end of more than 25 years of conflict. Many residents fleeing the fighting show signs of malnutrition [Reuters] Erik Solheim, a Norwegian minister and former negotiator in the conflict, warned on Sunday that "peace is long from being won". "The Sri Lankan authorities must demonstrate generosity towards the Tamil population and grant Tamils autonomy and create a state that includes everyone," Solheim, who is Norway's international development and environment minister, said. Norway helped broker a ceasefire in February 2002, which came to an end in October 2006 when peace negotiations broke down. Pathmanathan, the Tigers' spokesman, said bodies of thousands of wounded and slain civilians remain in the war zone. The Sri Lankan ministry of disaster management had said it was continuing to process civilians rescued from the fighting and being held in camps for the internally displaced. The government and the Tigers alike have been criticised for not allowing civilians to leave the conflict zone. 'Struggle to continue' More than 70,000 people have been killed in the conflict that started in 1983 and the UN says 6,000 were killed and hundreds of thousands displaced in just the last four months. The Tamil Tigers once controlled nearly a fifth of the Indian ocean island nation, running a shadow state that had courts, police and a tax system along with an army, navy and even nascent air force. However, the struggle for a homeland for ethnic Tamils who say they are marginalised by the ruling majority Sinhalese government will continue, Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, the leader of the Tamil National Alliance, told Al Jazeera. "The Tamil struggle started long before the Tigers were born and will continue after the end of the Tigers."

Source: Al Jazeera and agencies

Lankan Army advances to last Tiger pockets; US & UK express deep concern

(Doordharshan)

The Sri Lankan Army is just positioned at the ‘‘outskirts’’ of the newly declared 2 km long civilian safety zone while destroying several LTTE gun installations near Vellamulivaikkal area.

According to the ground sources, troops have forced into several LTTE strong positions and seized a cache of weaponry, heavy earth moving vehicles and explosive devices.

An armour plated vehicle used by Tamil Tigers to escort its high profile cadres has also been found abandoned in the area, military.

Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajpaksa in an exclusive interview to AIR/DD said that some major movement is expected in the next 48 hours.

The security forces are trying to evacuate the civilians who are being held as ‘‘hostage’’ there.

Top LTTE leader believed to be killed as fighting continues in Lanka

Elusive LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran's top military aide is believed to have been killed by the Sri Lankan Army in heavy fighting in the island's north, even as 1,000 civilians broke away from the rebel-held areas and crossed over to safe zones.

Rasiah Ilanthriyan, the Military spokesman of the LTTE, was seriously injured in a skirmish with the troops in Kariyamullivaikkal in Wanni region on Monday. He later succumbed to his injuries, official sources said.

The offensive is bringing the troops almost to a face to face confrontation with the LTTE top brass. But, the pace of advance appears to have been slowed down by heavy mining and fear of large scale civilian casualties.

Britain concerned over lack of UN access to Sri Lanka

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband has voiced his concern over the lack of access for UN agencies in strife-torn Sri Lanka, after the United Nations condemned a civilian "bloodbath" there.

"I believe very, very strongly that the civilian situation in northeast Sri Lanka merits the attention of the United Nations at all levels," Miliband told reporters ahead of informal meetings on Sri Lanka at UN headquarters.

The Colombo government estimates that up to 20,000 civilians are being held in the less than five-square-kilometre (two-square-mile) area where the rebels are holed up. The United Nations has said as many as 50,000 may be trapped there.(AM-12/05)

Sri Lanka army 'maintains advance'

Sri Lanka's army says it is continuing to make advances into Tamil Tiger territory, with the president saying the war is "rapidly" nearing an end.

Mahinda Rajapkasa said that Sri Lanka was on "the threshold of a new era of lasting peace".

Troops were advancing in the designated no-fire zone in the north-east amid stiff rebel resistance, the defence ministry website said.

The pro-rebel TamilNet has urged the US to find a "political balance".

The area still under rebel control is down to about 5 sq km (two square miles).

Sri Lanka 'advances' into LTTE land

( Aljazeera.net)

Sri Lankan troops have advanced further into territory held by the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) after heavy fighting in the country's northeastern war zone, the military has said.

Troops captured a mud embankment built by the LTTE to slow the government offensive, the defence ministry said in a statement on Friday.

"Troops continued their advance further... amidst stiff resistance as LTTE terrorists made their maximum effort to hold the [embankment] built to obstruct the security forces."

Sri Lankan troops captured a nearly 200 metre stretch of land in the operation, neutralising the few LTTE strong positions, the ministry said.

It said the LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers, suffered "considerable damages" in the fighting on Thursday, though the ministry did not provide casualty figures.

"Troops also received minor damages from exploding anti-personnel mines," it said.

The Sri Lankan government has rejected a call for a truce from the LTTE, demanding the rebels surrender or face defeat.

The ongoing fighting between the military and the LTTE has sparked international concern over the plight of civilians trapped in the strip of land controlled by the LTTE.

Thousands of people have fled the area but the UN has said that up to 50,000 civilians could still be trapped.

Red Cross evacuation

On Thursday, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said it evacuated 495 sick and injured Sri Lankans and their accompanying caregivers from the war zone.

But it said there is still more to be done.

"Not all the wounded could be evacuated today, and it is of the utmost importance that more evacuations take place over the coming days," Jacques de Maio, the ICRC head of operations for South Asia, said.

"The food and medical supplies that have been delivered remain insufficient to cover the basic needs of the people there."

Sri Lankan President Vows No Cease-fire as Victory Nears

By Steve Herman Colombo 07 May 2009

Sri Lanka's President is adamant there will be no pause in the fighting on the verge of a total battlefield victory over the rebel Tamil Tigers that would end a quarter century civil war.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa says victory is near for troops who have cornered the remaining Tamil rebels on the northeastern coast.

In a speech to diplomats in the capital, the president again rejected international calls for a cease-fire to allow civilians to escape. Mr. Rajapaksa says a halt to the fighting at this late stage would be useless as the rebels only understand the "language of terror."

He vows the Army will rescue the civilians, who the government says are human shields being held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The President promises the defeat of the LTTE will return democracy to the Tamil-dominated north. He notes 200,000 Tamils have been able to escape from the rebels and he credits the armed forces for that.

Authorities say more Tamils - estimated at between 50,000 and 100,000 by the United Nations - are being held as human shields by the rebels.

The military says only 43 civilians have managed to escape since early Wednesday, with heavy combat reported in the last strip of land controlled by the rebels.

Defense officials say soldiers have over-run what they believe is the last earthen fortification of the LTTE. Commanders say that should ease the capture of the remaining sliver of territory held by the rebels.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara tells VOA News that Army troops, using only small arms, have had to advance slowly in the past two weeks because the rebels have placed anti-personnel mines and deployed exploding vehicles and suicide bombers.

"They came and exploded themselves, but then we could identify them before they got closer to our troops," said Udaya Nanayakkara. "Therefore we could minimize our damage and they lost eight suicide cadres."

The Army says several of its soldiers were wounded in the latest action.

The military and police say they are taking added security precautions as the country begins celebrating (Friday) the Vesak Buddhist holiday.

Authorities tell VOA News they are concerned there may be sleeper cells of suicide bombers intent on disrupting the festival to demonstrate the Tamil Tigers still have the ability to strike outside the war zone.

The LTTE, considered a terrorist organization by numerous countries, wants to split the island nation that is dominated by the Sinhalese majority and establish a Tamil ethnic homeland.

Sri Lanka troops break more rebel defences

7 hours ago

COLOMBO (AFP) — Sri Lankan soldiers have overrun another Tamil Tiger defence line standing between government troops and the small strip of territory still held by the ethnic rebels, the defence ministry said Friday.

In heavy fighting late Thursday, troops captured a mud embankment built by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to slow down the government's offensive.

"Troops continued their advance further... amidst stiff resistance as LTTE terrorists made their maximum effort to hold the earth bund (embankment) built to obstruct the security forces," the ministry said.

It said that the Tigers had left behind dead bodies on the battlefield, but gave no detailed breakdown of casualties.

"Troops also received minor damages from exploding anti personnel mines," the ministry added.

The government says the LTTE now holds less than five square kilometres (two square miles) of coastal jungle in the island's far northeast.

Before the total collapse of a Norwegian-brokered ceasefire in January 2008, the LTTE controlled most of the north and ran their own mini-state.

Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse said on Thursday that the long-running war against the rebels, which dates back to the 1970s, was "rapidly" nearing its end.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) meanwhile reported heavy fighting near a medical assembly point at Mullavaikkal, inside the LTTE-held zone, and said the lives of patients and aid workers were at "great risk".