Lankan battle against Tigers delayed for civilians
A massive offensive against Tamil rebels is taking longer than expected because of concerns for civilians trapped in the battle zone, Sri Lanka's president said yesterday.
President Mahinda Rajapakse said his security forces were "fighting under severe constraints, to cause no harm or loss to innocent, civilian human life".
"The battle against terrorism, which we could convincingly win within a few days, is nevertheless prolonged due to the grave concern and the optimum caution exercised by the highly disciplined armed forces," he said in remarks published in the state-run Daily News.
His statement came a day after the defence ministry admitted scores of its troops had been killed or injured in fighting with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) over the weekend.
The defence ministry said troops had edged closer to the rebels' northern capital of Kilinochchi but battles since Saturday had left 33 soldiers dead, three missing in action and 48 injured.
Rajapakse accused the LTTE of using "human shields".
"We have directed the armed forces to refrain from inflicting any harm, even a scratch, to the innocent civilians who are being utilised as human shields by the terrorists," he said.
"We are proud to have an army which is complying and carrying out their humanitarian operations accordingly."
Government forces say they are about 10 to 15 kilometres (six to 10 miles) south-west of Kilinochchi, the administrative capital of the LTTE, but had breached the final major defences of the town.
Neighbouring India, which itself has a large Tamil population, has expressed "grave concern" over the plight of tens of thousands of Sri Lankan Tamil civilians caught up in fighting in the north of the island.
New Delhi has told Colombo a military solution to the long-running conflict is impossible.
But Rajapakse told local newspaper editors Tuesday that there was no pressure from India to halt the ongoing military operations.
"In the telephone conversation with the Indian Prime Minister (Manmohan Singh, last week) there was no reference to the stopping of military operations against the terrorism of the LTTE," his office said in a statement.
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