Over the last few days the world’s eyes have been fixated on a 6.5 square mile area in Northern Sri Lanka. This zone, protected by an earthen wall, is the last pocket of LTTE resistance. LTTE forces are holding thousands of civilians within the zone as human shields. Four days ago government forces beached the wall in at least one location and “unleashed the exodus”. Reports indicate that tens of thousands of civilians have fled the zone through the breach:
“It is 60,000 plus and counting, and we have heard various reports of up to 110,000 coming out,” said the U.N. spokesman in Colombo, Gordon Weiss. He cautioned the reports were preliminary and not confirmed.
The LTTE has accused the military of fabricating the numbers and of capturing people it says are staying by choice. It has ignored all calls to free civilians while urging a truce, and on Tuesday vowed no surrender despite facing overwhelming firepower.
Photo: Video grab released by the Sri Lankan Air Force shows footage taken from a military spy aircraft showing what the air force claims to be civilians escaping the last remaining Tamil Tiger area in Mullaittivu. Tens of thousands of civilians escaped from the area still held by Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers, signalling that the rebels’ “complete defeat” was imminent, President Mahinda Rajapakse said. (Credit: AFP/SRI LANKAN AIR FORCE)
Christopher Albon is a Ph.D. candidate specializing in armed conflict, public health, human security, and health diplomacy.
Want more? Subscribe to Conflict Health through RSS or email.
{ 1 comment }
Its been terrible and the LTTE has been losing.
Comments on this entry are closed.