Children of a lesser God, civilian Tamils inhabiting the country’s northern peninsula continued to bear the brunt of an advancing military and determined Tiger rebels as government troops, according to Sri Lankan administration captured the last few miles of rebel held land in the Jaffna region.
Regaining full control of the region after a gap of almost a decade is another strategic victory for the government which has termed it present surge as decisive war on Lankan Tamil rebels, say correspondents.
The capture follows the recent fall of the town of rebels’ political and administrative headquarter Kilinochchi and the strategically important Elephant Pass.
"Troops liberated Chundikulam, the land mass that links the Jaffna peninsula with the mainland," the defence ministry website said of the latest fighting.
There has been no comment on the claim from the Tamil Tigers.
The peninsula and its capital, Jaffna, have long been regarded as the symbolic heart of their 25-year-old separatist insurgency.
The report on the Reuters website quoted Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara saying the army did not suffer any casualties in the latest action.
Sri Lanka bans independent journalists from entering the war zone, making it virtually impossible to verify claims made on either side of the conflict.
The Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International meanwhile say that they are increasingly concerned about the plight of civilians in the conflict area.
A pro-rebel website www.TamilNet.com says the advancing government troops have repeatedly shelled civilian inhabitants in the region.
According to a Reuters India, some 800 Tamil civilians fled the fast shrinking battle zone in Sri Lanka’s war with itself.
The government troops are now advancing towards the port of Mullaittivu, where aid agencies say about 230,000 people are trapped in an area of no more than 330 square km.
In a letter to Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon ahead of his visit to the country, Amnesty said that more than a quarter of a million people, mostly Tamils, face "immense hardship".
They say that civilians are "running out of space in the face of intensified fighting between the two sides".
"The Sri Lankan government's recent recapture of Killinochchi has meant that hundreds of thousands of people have been compressed into a smaller area and are increasingly vulnerable," the letter states.
The government said this week it was fully prepared to handle "the mass exodus of civilians" the fighting with the rebels might cause.
Amnesty has also called on the Indian foreign secretary to raise the issue of attacks on the media and press.
(With BBC Inputs)
Regaining full control of the region after a gap of almost a decade is another strategic victory for the government which has termed it present surge as decisive war on Lankan Tamil rebels, say correspondents.
The capture follows the recent fall of the town of rebels’ political and administrative headquarter Kilinochchi and the strategically important Elephant Pass.
"Troops liberated Chundikulam, the land mass that links the Jaffna peninsula with the mainland," the defence ministry website said of the latest fighting.
There has been no comment on the claim from the Tamil Tigers.
The peninsula and its capital, Jaffna, have long been regarded as the symbolic heart of their 25-year-old separatist insurgency.
The report on the Reuters website quoted Military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara saying the army did not suffer any casualties in the latest action.
Sri Lanka bans independent journalists from entering the war zone, making it virtually impossible to verify claims made on either side of the conflict.
The Tigers have been fighting for a separate homeland for 25 years. At least 70,000 people have been killed in the insurgency.
Human rights groups such as Amnesty International meanwhile say that they are increasingly concerned about the plight of civilians in the conflict area.
A pro-rebel website www.TamilNet.com says the advancing government troops have repeatedly shelled civilian inhabitants in the region.
According to a Reuters India, some 800 Tamil civilians fled the fast shrinking battle zone in Sri Lanka’s war with itself.
The government troops are now advancing towards the port of Mullaittivu, where aid agencies say about 230,000 people are trapped in an area of no more than 330 square km.
In a letter to Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon ahead of his visit to the country, Amnesty said that more than a quarter of a million people, mostly Tamils, face "immense hardship".
They say that civilians are "running out of space in the face of intensified fighting between the two sides".
"The Sri Lankan government's recent recapture of Killinochchi has meant that hundreds of thousands of people have been compressed into a smaller area and are increasingly vulnerable," the letter states.
The government said this week it was fully prepared to handle "the mass exodus of civilians" the fighting with the rebels might cause.
Amnesty has also called on the Indian foreign secretary to raise the issue of attacks on the media and press.
(With BBC Inputs)
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