Lankan military cuts off rebel sea escape

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Picture released by Sri Lankan Defence Ministry Saturday shows heavy weapons captured from Tamil Tiger rebels in northeastern Mullaittivu district. — AFP

COLOMBO, May 16 (AP): Sri Lankan forces took control of the entire island's coastline Saturday, trapping the Tamil Tigers in a tiny p_ocket of territory and cutting off any sea escape for the rebels' top leaders, the military said.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa vowed to defeat the remaining rebel fighters and end the 25-year-old civil war by Saturday night.
The latest military success gave the government full control of the coast for the first time in nearly a quarter century. The rebels, who once ran a de facto state across the north, had controlled a formidable navy and sea smuggling operation.
Government forces have been hunting for the reclusive Tamil Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his top deputies for months, but it was unclear if they were still in the remaining patch of rebel territory or had already fled overseas.
Two army divisions moving along two fronts on the island's northeastern coast linked up at the coastal village of Vellamullivaikkal early Saturday, military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said. The rebels, who are fighting for a homeland for minority Tamils, are cornered along with tens of thousands of Tamil civilians in a 3.1-square-kilometre strip between a lagoon and the sea.
International concern has grown for civilians amid the unrelenting artillery bombardments shaking the war zone, and the Red Cross has warned of "an unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe" for the hundreds of wounded trapped without treatment.