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Bloodbath expected as Tamil Tiger rebels vow to fight on

Sydney Morning Herald - April 22, 2009

Matt Wade – The stage has been set for a bloody showdown in Sri Lanka's long civil war after Tamil Tiger rebels ignored a Government ultimatum to surrender.

The failure to meet the deadline, which expired late yesterday, meant the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) faced a "military course of action" to end the war, the Government said.

International organisations fear the final push to defeat the LTTE will be disastrous for tens of thousands of civilians inside the small rebel-controlled coastal strip on the north-east coast.

The United Nations estimates about 4500 civilians have been killed in fighting during the last three months but UNICEF's regional director for South Asia, Daniel Toole, said the worst may be yet to come. "With the high concentration of people in a small space, the number of children killed in this conflict will continue to escalate. This is a price too heavy to pay. Solutions should be sought not just to win the war, but to win the peace."

The New York-based Human Rights Watch warned there was little time left for the world to prevent a "bloodbath" in the combat zone.

The LTTE has fought for 26 years for an independent homeland for ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, but has suffered a string of demoralising losses since September.

A few hours after the Government's demand for it to surrender, it issued a statement vowing to continue its struggle. "The LTTE and the fight for our freedom will also continue,' it said. "The methods may vary but Sri Lanka will never be able to live in peace, as it imagines a military victory will bring."

The Government claims that 49,000 Tamils have moved from LTTE territory into Government-controlled areas over the past two days after the army breached a Tamil fortification on Monday.

"We will conduct our operations to rescue civilians," Sri Lanka's military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, told the Herald soon after the deadline had passed.

However, the pro-LTTE website Tamilnet accused the army of killing more than 1000 innocent people in a bid to "capture" civilians.

Independent observers and foreign reporters are not allowed into the combat zone, making it impossible to verify the claims.

"The fog of war is pretty thick at the moment," said one Colombo-based diplomat.

The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, said he "remains deeply concerned about the circumstances of the civilians that remain in the conflict zone and the potential for large-scale casualties".

Three decades of conflict

1972 – Velupillai Prabhakaran forms the Tamil New Tigers, which become the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1976.

1985 – Tigers gun down 146 civilians at a Buddhist site at Anuradhapura.

1991 – Tigers linked to assassination of the former Indian PM Rajiv Gandhi.

1993 – The Sri Lankan President, Ranasinghe Premadasa, killed by Tiger bomb.

1996 – Rebels crash a truck packed with explosives into Central Bank headquarters, killing 60 and injuring 1500.

2001 – Suicide attack by Tigers on Colombo airport kills 14.

2002 – Norway brokers a permanent ceasefire agreement between Tigers and government.

2003 – Rebels submit plans for self-rule in the north-east which are later rejected by Colombo.

June 2006 – Major-General Parami Kulatunga killed by a suspected Tamil suicide bomber.

Aug 2006 – Rebels accuse Sri Lankan air force of killing 43 orphans in bombing raid.

Oct 2006 – Fierce fighting at Jaffna leaves 43 soldiers and 150 rebels dead.

Jan 2007 – Human Rights Watch claims the Government has colluded in at least 600 child abductions to bolster a breakaway Tamil faction fighting the rebels.

March 2007 – Army offensive forces more than 150,000 civilians to flee.

Oct 2008 – Army closes in on Kilinochchi, Tamil headquarters; claims to have killed 7500 rebels last year and lost 1100 troops.

Jan 3 – Kilinochchi captured.

Feb 18 – UN reports Tamils refusing to let civilians flee fighting with the army.

April 7 – Sri Lanka reports deaths of 420 Tigers.

April 9 – Sri Lanka rejects UN call for ceasefire over fears for thousands of civilians.

April 21 – Prabhakaran given 24 hours to surrender.

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