Sri Lankan Army Captures LTTE's Stronghold Kilinochchi

Sri Lankan Army Captures LTTE's Stronghold Kilinochchi (NSI News Source Info) January 3, 2009: THE SRI LANKAN army finally captured Kilinochchi, the unofficial capital and one of the major bases of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Elam (LTTE) on Friday (December 2), defeating the rebel forces. The heavy artillery firing by the Sri Lankan army completely destroyed all the defences of the LTTE rebels in Kilinochchi. While speaking to the media, Maithripala Sirisena, the ruling party spokesman and the agriculture minister of Sri Lanka said, “The national flag is now flying at Kilinochchi.” Sirisena further added that capture of the Tigers’ political headquarters, which was considered as the chief target of the latest and largest military offensive was a historic victory for the nation. Surprisingly, the Tigers are still silent on the issue and have not made any comments yet. Pertinent to mention that the Tigers had earlier promised to defend their political headquarter at any cost.A Sri Lankan army soldier signals his colleagues at a defence line in Paranthan December 23, 2008. Sri Lanka's president said its troops captured the separatist Tamil Tigers' headquarters town of Kilinochchi on January 2, 2009, but within an hour of the announcement a suspected suicide bomber killed at least two people in the capital. Troops fought their way into the Tiger stronghold of Kilinochchi deep in the north, in one of the biggest blows for the rebels in years. Details of casualties from the fighting were not immediately available. Picture taken December 23, 2008.

Jubilant Sri Lankans carried national flags as they celebrated the announced capture of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's de-facto administrative capital of Kilinochchi. Because the authorities do not allow journalists to travel freely between government- and rebel-held territory, there was no independent confirmation of the capture of Kilinochchi. Since the last ten years, Kilinochchi has remained the de facto capital of the Tigers’ mini-state in northern Sri Lanka. It is 330 kilometres (206 miles) away from Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka. The concerned officials of the Sri Lankan army said that its ground troops had annihilated the defences of Tigers at two locations in the city. They also confirmed that the Sri Lankan army had taken overall control of the city. Mahinda Rajapakse, the President of Sri Lanka quashed the ceasefire deal between the government and the LTTE in 2008 and ordered the flush-out of the Tigers from their bases once and for all. Though the LTTE rebels went on the defensive after such a presidential order, they eventually lost their stronghold in the east of the island and retreated to the north. President Rajapakse announced even on his New Year’s address to the nation on Thursday (January 1) that the new year 2009 would witness the final and “heroic victory” over LTTE rebels. The LTTE rebels had established their own courts, police and political administration in Kilinochchi. Some agencies of the United Nation and offices of other international aid groups also existed in Kilinochchi, which were pulled out in 2008 at the request of the ruling government. Though the victory at Kilinochchi is being considered as a major achievement by the Sri Lankan army, it is to be kept in mind that the Tigers have the ability to rebound from even the most dire situations. After the Sri Lankan armed forces captured the northern Jaffna peninsula in 1995, the Tigers carried out a full fledged attack on a military base in the northeastern district of Mullaittivu just six months after and killed more than 1,200 Lankan soldiers. The LTTEs also freed their Elephant Pass base at the entrance to Jaffna from the Sri Lankan army’s control in just five days in November 1999, which the Lankan army had captured in a 19-month-long warfare. Every year, the Sri Lankan government spends a huge amount in the conflict. While in 2008, the government spent 1.6 billion dollars on the war effort, an estimated 1.7 billion dollars would be spent in 2009. While speaking to the media in November 2008, LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran said in his annual speech that the LTTE vowed to defend their territory at any cost and suggested all Tigers to revert to guerrilla-style, hit-and-run attacks as their area shrank. He further added, “No sane voice is being raised either to abandon war or to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict.” LTTE is considered as one of the most effective and ruthless guerrilla groups in the world. It has been carrying out surprise and suicide bombings to keep its struggle alive through the decades. LTTE has been declared a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union, Sri Lanka and India. Since 1972, tens of thousands of lives have been lost in this LTTE - Sri Lanka conflict.