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| Sri Lanka |
| 'Tamil held town to fall soon' |
| 2006-12-30 |
| An eastern stronghold of Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels will likely fall to the military soon following weeks of fighting that has forced thousands of civilians to flee, a brigadier said on Friday. Vakarai, the scene of intense artillery battles with the Tigers since November, is the last major rebel-held town on the east coast after the military drove them out of territory near the strategic port of Trincomalee further north. “It’s a matter of time now. It could be days, or weeks, but we will get there,” Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, the top military spokesman, told Reuters in a interview. “The only thing holding us back is the fear of civilian casualties; they are using them as human shields,” he said. Analysts said the offensive on Vakarai was a key step in the government’s plan to clear the Tigers from the east. Once the rebels are pushed out, the government plans to hold local elections that a faction of renegade rebels opposed to the Tigers and aligned to the military are expected to win. |
| Posted by:Fred |