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Sri Lankan rebel leader still trapped in no fire zone

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-04-23 00:06

COLOMBO -- The Sri Lankan government said Wednesday that Tamil Tiger rebels' leader Velupillai Prabakaran is still being trapped in a small patch of land in the northern no fire zone (NFZ) as large number of civilians fled to government controlled areas.

A photograph of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa hangs above defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella (C), who is flanked by military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara (L) and Media Centre for National Security Director General Lakshman Hulugalle, as he speaks during a news conference at the media centre for national security in central Colombo April 22, 2009. [Xinhua]

The government' defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters that he believes Prabakaran is still hiding in the remaining less than 13-sq-km of the NFZ in the northeastern Mullaittivu district.

Army Commander Sarath Fonseka told the media that the coastal area where the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) leader is trapped is just 1.5 km wide. And he believed that when the Army finally started coming into the area Prabakaran would try to flee the area via sea by boat.

Related readings:  More civilians fleeing conflicting area in Sri Lanka  Sri Lanka orders two-day ceasefire

The Army said over 80,000 people have fled the NFZ from Monday to Wednesday.

The military said the troops have captured the northern part of the NFZ in order to facilitate the rest of the civilians out of the NFZ.

The rebels lost a large number of second level leadership early this month in the fighting in Puthukkudiyiruppu, completely crippling the rebels' resistance against the military advance.

The government has urged the rebels to give up arms and surrender, which has been rejected by the LTTE.

The LTTE on Tuesday called the attention of the UN and international community to the situation unfolding in the NFZ, saying over 1,000 civilians were killed and near 2,300 civilians were injured on Monday when the troops began to enter into the NFZ.

More than 70,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's long drawn-out civil war since the mid-1980s when the LTTE began to rebel against the government based on claims that the minority Tamils were being discriminated in this Sinhamese dominated island.

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