Lanka braces for bloody battle to capture LTTE capital
A Sri Lankan man listens to the radio in Colombo yesterday, a day after the government concluded local elections. President Mahinda Rajapakse's United People's Freedom Alliance comfortably won Saturday's vote, with the ruling party securing 23 out of the 42 seats in the Sabaragamuwa province and took 18 out of the 31 seats at the North Central Province, official results showed. Photo: AFP
Strife-torn Sri Lanka is bracing for intense and bloody battles as security forces close in on the political capital of the Tamil Tiger rebels, according to military analysts.
Government forces are celebrating the capture of the towns of Uyilankulam and Thunukkai after battling the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for months.
And the defence ministry says the ultimate prize of the city of Kilinochchi is now within reach, just 12 kilometres (seven miles) from current security forces' positions.
Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres (206 miles) north of Colombo, is the main headquarters of the LTTE's political wing and has been used a base to receive visiting foreign dignitaries in the past.
Defence analysts say the going will get tougher for government forces as they get closer to their prized objective as they will no longer be able to use heavy artillery, multi-barrel rockets and air attacks.
"As the army moves closer, they will have to rely more on infantry," said retired brigadier general Vipul Boteju. "We are getting to the stage of close-quarter fighting and that is when we can expect more casualties."
The guerrillas have made no comment on government claims of success, but tacitly admitted last week that they were losing ground inside the vast Wanni area, of which Kilinochchi is the main city.
The military is confident of replicating in the island's north its success in driving the Tigers out of the Eastern Province last year. In the Wanni area, the military has been moving in from at least four different fronts.
Despite the challenges ahead, the military top brass are confident.
"We are now quite close to Kilinochchi," army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said in remarks published in Saturday's state-run Daily News. "Though our future targets would be more challenging, I am sure we would be able to face them."
The few international aid agencies allowed by the government to work in rebel-held territory reported last week that about 112,000 people had been driven out of their homes as a result of fighting in the past two months alone.
They expect the number of internally displaced people to reach 200,000 in a few weeks at the current level of fighting.
A defence analyst who declined to be named said the military should push ahead to take Kilinochchi before November when monsoon rains set in. Showers could bog down heavy guns and make artillery less effective.
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