Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
International
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Environment
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
Sri Lankan army measures end of 25-year war in days
Mon Feb 23, 2009 1:29pm EST
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By C. Bryson Hull
PUTHUKUDIYIRUPPU, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - After 25 years of war, Sri Lanka army Brigadier Shavendra Silva is measuring the last of the fighting in days.
Standing not far from where he expects a final showdown with Tamil Tiger separatists in the Indian Ocean island's northeast, the 58th Division commander ordered in his armored units as Tiger mortar bombs exploded on the nearby frontline.
Three T-55 tanks and an armored personnel carrier with a 30 mm cannon raced down the A-35 road, throwing up clouds of fine red dust, the thump of their 30 mm cannon heard within a minute.
Just a few hours earlier, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) peace secretariat had issued a letter addressed to the United Nations and others saying the separatist guerrilla group would accept a truce but not surrender.
"We have a job to do. We are not bothered about any truce at the moment," Silva told Reuters Monday on a visit to a frontline usually closed to outside observers.
Sri Lanka's military has cornered the LTTE in less than 60 sq km (23 sq miles) of palm-dotted coastal scrubland and expects to end one of Asia's longest-running wars shortly.
"How long it will take is not in weeks. I am talking in days," Silva told Reuters earlier at his headquarters in Kilinochchi in the three-storey former LTTE Peace Secretariat where the Tigers once hosted diplomats and journalists.
Silva's troops seized the northern half of Kilinochchi, which the Tigers had proclaimed as the capital of the separate state they wanted to create for Sri Lanka's minority Tamils, on Jan 2.
Since then they have moved swiftly east more than 30 km along the A-35 road.
Much of the road itself shows little sign of war save the soldiers, but there is plenty of destruction around it. Houses, shops and fences lie in disarray, felled by a wall of water loosed when the LTTE blew up the Kalmadakulam dam.
"The water was nine feet high. The brigade commander was on top of a tree," Silva said near a bridge that had also been blown up by the LTTE during its retreat.
Further along is a refugee reception center, where more than 25,000 people fleeing fighting were screened before being moved to camps outside the war zone.
Witnesses who have escaped said the LTTE forced civilians to stay as conscripts or human shields, shooting those who tried to escape and firing artillery from areas thick with people.
The Tigers have in turn accused the government of indiscriminately shelling civilians, which the military denies and says is part of an old Tiger strategy to manufacture a crisis to create international pressure for a ceasefire.
"They are firing a lot from the no-fire zone but we can't help it. We don't fire into the no-fire zone. We fire immediately to the front of our line," Silva said. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
My Web
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Court to issue Bashir warrant ruling on March 4
Also on Reuters
Dreamers and dealers see gold in California housing bust
Pope names Timothy Dolan archbishop of New York
Reuters Manufacturing Summit: Building for the future
More International News
U.S. plans "substantial" pledge at Gaza meeting
Pakistan army halts operations in Swat
UK resident freed from Guantanamo, alleging torture
Israel replaces envoy to Egypt talks, Hamas angry
| Video
Somalia's Shabaab vows more attacks on African troops
More International News...
Related News
Sri Lanka Tiger rebels say would accept ceasefire
1:27am EST
U.N.'s Ban urges suspension of Sri Lanka fighting
1:29pm EST
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Soros sees no bottom for world financial "collapse" | Video
"Slumdog Millionaire" wins Oscar gold | Video
Swiss party wants to punish U.S. for UBS probe
New U.S. stake in Citigroup won't fix problems | Video
U.S. economy seen starting recovery in second half of '09: poll
Dealers, dreamers see gold in California housing bust
UAW and Ford reach deal on retiree health care trust | Video
Manila to slaughter 6,000 pigs to stop Ebola spread
Penelope Cruz wins first Oscar for Spanish actress
Sean Penn wins best actor Oscar for "Milk" | Video
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Slumdog Millionaire in Oscar triumph
Roubini says crisis end distant
European leaders in markets pledge
Stars stride the red carpet
Dying British star weds
Fans gather for Hollywood Oscars
Scores die in Chinese mine blast
Australians flee fresh fires
Driven to succeed
China demands relics return
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
the great debate
Obama's foreign policy challenges
President Barack Obama’s toughest foreign-policy challenge will be in managing the sheer number of complex problems he’s inherited and their refusal to arrive in orderly fashion. Commentary
Reuters Deals
The global destination for corporate leaders, deal-makers and innovators
Knowledge to Act
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Interactive TV |
Labs |
Reuters in Second Life |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.