International   

Key junction captured: Army

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan military on Monday said troops in the North had breached yet another heavily-fortified earthwall-cum- bund built by the LTTE in the No-Fire Zone (NFZ) and confined the Tigers to an area of five square kilometres within it.

There were no reports of fresh arrivals of civilians from the NFZ. The government estimates that 20,000 civilians are being held as human shield by the LTTE inside the NFZ. The number of civilians, as per the assessment of the U.N. and other agencies, is much higher.

The pro-LTTE TamilNet, a website presumably run from outside the island nation by Tiger sympathisers, was unusually quiet on Monday. It featured only two reports and one of them was about a candlelight vigil by Tamil groups in Mauritius on the plight of the civilians in Wanni.

The Defence Ministry said here the troops cleared the path towards the remaining five km stretch after storming another heavily fortified earth bund built across the Paranthan-Mullaithivu, A-35 road following a long close quarter fighting.

Earlier on Saturday, they captured the key junction that links the Puthumatalan-Mullaithivu and Paranthan-Mullaithivu roads North of Vellamullivaikkal.

In a related development, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Vavuniya Valerie Petitpierre and a team of U.N. officials on Monday discussed issues related to Wanni humanitarian operations with Jagath Jayasuriya, Commander Security Forces Headquarters-Wanni at his Vavuniya office.

The Defence Ministry said the ICRC official focused attention on speedy evacuation of trapped civilians who continue to receive injuries as a result of terrorist firing inside as the extent of the remaining Karayanmullivaikal and Vellamullivaikkal areas in the NFZ is fast shrinking.

It said Major General Jayasuriya explained her the options available since many risks are involved at this final stage of the humanitarian operation and assured maximum support for smooth transfer of any more evacuees to the ICRC charted vessel from the NFZ, if any.

Meanwhile, the government said the Second Phase of resettling the displaced would commence on May 11 with 2100 people belonging to 520 families in the Mannar district. The Ministry of Disaster Relief Services and Resettlement said steps were being taken to resettle more displaced in the Arippu area in Mannar.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Chinese economy rebounds
Key junction captured: Army
Un-Islamic: U.K. Muslims
Israeli move against U.S.-Iran thaw
Flu outbreak waning, says Mexico
India internship plan launched in Singapore

Copyright © 2009, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu