Wednesday 24, April 1996
Security News

Sri Lankan Tamils flood home after army offensive



By Rohan Gunasekera

COLOMBO, Tuesday - Up to 200,000 Tamils no longer under Tamil Tiger rebel control after a major army offensive were ready to return to their homes in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula, a military spokesman said on Tuesday.

"Troops are not advancing because there are so many people moving,'' he told Reuters. "There has been no fighting today. The terrorists too are not coming to fight because of the people.''

The army plans to resume its advance against Tamil Tiger rebels in the peninsula, which it has virtually cut off from the mainland, as soon as possible, army officials said.

The spokesman said earlier troops were busy screening returning refugees to ensure there was no rebel infiltration.

"We screen them first, issue identity cards, provide them with temporary shelter and then send them home,'' he said, adding that there was enough food, medicine and building material.

He denied civilians were killed in air and artillery attacks as reported by Tamil Tiger rebels in a statement faxed to an international news agency on Tuesday.

Rebel radio said on Tuesday that civilians were unable to leave as all exit routes from the peninsula had come under attack by security forces. People were short of food and water, Voice of Tigers radio said.

Army officials said troops had virtually cut off the peninsula, 320 km (200 miles) north of the capital Colombo, from the mainland.

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east, had not offered much resistance under the massive air, land and sea assault, they said.

Defence analysts said the military's ability to cut off the Jaffna lagoon boat crossing meant it was in effective control of the peninsula dominated by the rebels for the past 10 years.

The Tigers ran a virtual ministate with their own police, courts and administration until Jaffna town was captured by the army late last year.

"We're in a position to interdict boat traffic across the Jaffna lagoon,'' the military spokesman said. "But the Tigers can still cross under cover of darkness.''

Army officials said pockets of rebel resistance remained, especially in the northeastern Vadamarachchi area, where Sea Tiger naval wing bases were bombed by the air force.

The Tigers could stage a massive counter-attack either against troops in Jaffna or in Colombo, they said.

Police said Tiger guerrillas overran a post at Serunuwara in the northeast on Monday, killing seven policemen and wounding 15. Three soldiers were killed in a rebel ambush in Batticaloa district on Tuesday morning, military sources said.

Residents said rebels withdrew arms, boats and supplies from the area in anticipation of the latest army assault.

Thousands of troops, backed by tanks, artillery and air and naval support, advanced on four fronts on to the peninsula in the offensive codenamed Operation Riviresa Two launched last Friday.

Two columns of troops thrust east into Tenmaradchi division, encircled Chavakachcheri, a key town on the main highway to Jaffna town, and had reached Kodikamam and Kachchai, near the Kilali boat crossing used by rebels and residents to cross the Jaffna lagoon to reach the mainland.

Another column of troops thrust north from the Elephant Pass base at the entrance to the peninsula, the officials said.

More than 50,000 people have been killed in the 13-year war.

REUTER

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