The Hindu : Front Page : Exodus from LTTE-held area as route opens up

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Tuesday, Apr 21, 2009
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Exodus from LTTE-held area as route opens up

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Number of civilians who have come in put at 25,000-30,000

COLOMBO: An estimated 25,000 to 30,000 civilians who were trapped in the no fire zone (NFZ) and held hostage by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam poured into the government controlled area in Sri Lanka’s northeast on Monday.

This exodus came about after the Sri Lanka security forces succeeded in opening a safe route following the capture of a 3-km-long earth ditch-cum-wall raised by the Tigers on the western edge of the NFZ.

An estimated 40,000 civilians are still in the remaining part of the NFZ occupied by the residual Tiger leaders and cadres including Velupillai Prabakaran.

Rajapaksa sees images

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited the Air Force Headquarters here to look at live video footage of fleeing civilians as aired by a military spy plane. He described it as the beginning of the end of the Tigers.

“The footage clearly shows that the people are defying the rebels and escaping. They are running to safety. The process of the complete defeat of the LTTE has just begun. It is now all over for the Tigers,” Mr. Rajapaksa remarked.

Video footage released by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) showed a large number of civilians rushing towards military check points on the edge of the NFZ amid intermittent firing and blasts. The military said that in a desperate bid to halt the civilian exodus, three suicide bombers of the Tigers exploded themselves among the fleeing people, killing at least 17 persons and injuring 100 others.

A clear picture on the exact number of fleeing civilians, those killed and injured could be expected only on Tuesday as the military would follow the standard procedure of screening the newly arrived refugees and undertaking mop-up operations in the newly captured territory.

Defence Minister and spokesperson Keheliya Rembukwella said the government was giving a last chance to the remaining Tiger leaders and cadres to surrender to the military before noon on Tuesday or face the consequences.

It maintained that thousands of civilians in the NFZ were waiting to be rescued by the armed forces and said that all hostages held in Ampalavanpokkanai and Valayanmadam areas have been rescued.

There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE. The pro-LTTE TamilNet charged that hundreds of bodies and wounded civilians were still in Maaththa’lan and Pokka’nai, and that more than 600 seriously wounded persons had been brought to a “makeshift hospital functioning at a school in Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal in the LTTE-held area following an attempt by the military to capture civilians” in the NFZ.

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