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LTTE has been defeated, says Rajapaksa

INSIDE THE WAR ZONE: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Saturday declared at the G-11 Summit in Jordan that the LTTE had been defeated even as troops moved in to flush out the remaining Tiger cadre and leaders holed up in an area of less than 1.5 sq. km. and facilitate the escape of the civilians being held hostage.

The number of civilians who fled to government-controlled territory touched 20,000.

Citing intercepted communication, the Defence Ministry said LTTE leaders and cadre were preparing for mass suicide after all escape routes were cut off. The Ministry also said the LTTE could prolong the fighting by resorting to tactics like using civilians as hostages, recruiting and using the Black Tigers suicide squad.

The wife of Sea Tiger chief Soosai, who was caught by the Navy along with four family members on Friday, told her military interrogators that Prabakaran along with his son Charles Anthony, Tiger intelligence chief Pottu Amman and Soosai, was inside the war zone.

However, commanders on the ground said they were not in a position to verify the report.

Smoke could be seen rising from the battle zone, which troops believe is Tigers setting fire to property and ammunition. With most of the civilians having escaped, the Army is confident that the end game is only hours away.

Meanwhile, the pro-LTTE TamilNet said: “An uncounted number of dead bodies, between 2,000 and 3,000, are lying all over the places in civilian congested area and the civilians are all struck by a heavy stench of dead bodies”.

Mr. Rajapaksa told the summit that the defeat of the LTTE heralded a new era in Sri Lanka and provided all Sri Lankans with a brand new opportunity for peace and development.

In his speech at the summit, Mr. Rajapaksa dwelled at length on the situation; especially the ongoing military operations. He announced he would return to Sri Lanka on Sunday “as a leader of a nation that vanquished terrorism”.

“Many in the world believed that the LTTE is invincible, but, I am proud to announce at this august gathering that my government, with the total commitment of our Armed forces, has in an unprecedented humanitarian operation, finally defeated the LTTE militarily”.

“This freedom comes after 30 long years. My government’s precise and well coordinated humanitarian operation has so far succeeded in rescuing over 2,10,000 civilians who were being used as human shields by the LTTE. The liberation of regions hitherto controlled by the LTTE, which amounted to a fourth of Sri Lanka’s land mass, paves the way for democracy to root itself and development to march ahead after decades of conflict,” he told the G-11 leaders.

He told the summit efforts were under way to complement the humanitarian mission with a political solution. “History has taught us that solutions externally prescribed, with little understanding of the complexity of the problem on the ground, are prone to failure. My government is therefore firmly committed to seeking a home-grown solution acceptable to all communities living in Sri Lanka.”

Mr. Rajapaksa said terrorism was a mutating menace and old theories on counter-terrorism needed to be constantly modified to effectively combat modern-day terrorism.

“Despite the LTTE’s defeat on the ground, it could well continue to sustain itself overseas. Our timely action must therefore ensure that the LTTE and other like-minded terrorist groups do not continue to circumvent the law by indulging in illegal operations, through various front organisations located overseas,” he told the leaders.

Meanwhile, the Defence Ministry said the LTTE cadre in the war zone were blowing up large explosive and ammunition dumps; also using stocks of white phosphorus with improvised barrel bombs to create large explosions.

The run up to the end game of the LTTE inside the war zone began early on Saturday morning with soldiers freeing the last remaining coastal stretch under LTTE clutches. The link up marks the total control of the Island’s coastline by the military in three decades.

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