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Sri Lankan president says rebel myth shattered
By SCOTT McDONALD,Associated Press Writer AP - 2 hours 15 minutes ago
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - The myth that the Tamil Tiger rebels were unbeatable has been shattered, with a final victory over the separatists inevitable, Sri Lanka's president was quoted Tuesday as saying.
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A string of victories by government forces has now pushed the rebels _ who at their height controlled one-third of Sri Lanka _ into a small pocket of jungle and beach on the island's northeastern coast.
"The mythical belief that the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) is unconquerable is no more. Many past leaders were suspicious of our own strengths in defeating terrorism and they thought a war would be never-ending," President Mahinda Rajapaksa was quoted as saying on a government Web site.
"However, the present government believed in its potential and comprehensively defeated the cruel LTTE. Our heroic soldiers crushed every form of LTTE resistance in the battlefield," he said.
The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for a separate state for ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983 in a war that has killed more than 70,000 people.
Rajapaksa has already ruled out a cease-fire and has called on the rebels to surrender to ensure the safety of tens of thousands of civilians trapped in their dwindling territory.
The Tigers are now confined to a narrow strip of land that earlier had been declared a "no-fire" zone by the government as a place for civilians to shelter from the fighting. It measures just 7.7 square miles (20 square kilometers).
The safety of the civilians has become a major concern internationally, with the U.N. estimating 150,000 to 190,000 people trapped there, and dozens dying each day. The government says only 30,000 to 40,000 remain.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka said he expected an exodus of trapped civilians "at any moment."
He was quoted as saying on a military Web site that a considerable number of middle-ranking Tiger leaders had been killed and the LTTE was "virtually paralyzed, unable to sustain (a) military onslaught."
Fonseka told U.S. Ambassador Robert Blake that he believed Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran may still be hiding in the area.
The military has accused the rebels of building fortifications in the "no-fire" zone in preparation for a final showdown in a civil war that has spanned 25 years. The government has not said how it plans to flush out the remaining militants.
Accounts from the front line cannot be verified because independent journalists are barred from the war zone.
The United Nations and aid organizations have accused the rebels of firing artillery shells from the "no-fire" zone and holding civilians there as human shields. The rebels have denied the allegations. The rebels have accused the military of shelling the zone, which the government denies.
___
On the Net:
Ministry of Defense: http://www.defence.lk
Government of Sri Lanka: http://www.news.lk
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