War zone
May 17, 2009
Sri Lankan President Rajapakse says the rebels have been defeated militarily. According to the country's forces, all civilians who were trapped by fighting between government troops and rebels in the northeast of the country have now escaped.
The military said over 50,000 people had fled the area north of the town of Mullataivu over the past three days.
However, reports say that the area on Sunday was wracked by chaos and that it was therefore difficult to independently confirm the government statements.
Tamil Tiger founding leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran was reportedly shot dead on Monday while trying to drive out of the battle zone in an ambulance, according to senior defense officials. State television also broadcast images of of the corpse of Prabhakaran's son Charles Anthony, who has also reportedly been killed.
The military, and people who have escaped the fighting, say Tamil rebels had been using civilians as human shields.
At least 200,000 Tamil refugees are now living in makeshift camps outside the war zone.
Tamil Tigers to "silence guns"
In a statement on the pro-rebel TamilNet website, the Tiger's head of international relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, announced that the group would "silence its guns."
"This is the need of the hour," he wrote. "These are historically unprecedented times and require historically prudent decisions."
"Our only regrets," he went on to say, "are for the lives lost and that we could not hold out for longer."
Earlier, an army spokesman had said fighting was continuing against last pockets of resistance by Tamil Tiger rebels, who are reportedly cut off from any ocean access and confined to a square kilometer of territory.
On Sunday, the army said it had foiled a last-ditch, pre-dawn attempt by Tamil rebels to breach military defenses and killed 70 fighters trying to escape. A military spokesman, Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara also said at least one suicide bomber had attacked Sri Lankan troops. He gave no further details, however.
The pro-rebel Tamil Net website, citing a doctor in the area, said the bodies of hundreds of wounded and dead people lay strewn across the battlefront.
At least 70,000 people are estimated to have died in the conflict since it began in 1983.
gb/Reuters/AP
Editor: Kateri Jochum