Sri Lanka’s army chief said on Saturday his forces had wiped out two-thirds of the Tamil Tigers’ military capability, and that the decades-old conflict with the rebels was at its tail-end.
Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would gradually start collapsing, the state-run Daily News said.
“We are almost at the beginning of the end … we are nearing the turning point now, through the way LTTE is reacting. In another three to four months’ time you would see very clearly how the things change,” he said.
He said security forces had already advanced 40km into rebel-controlled territory in the north.
The military drive is now moving fast, he said, indicating that rebels either offered little assistance or melted away. “Every week we move about 3km, unlike in the past,” he said.
He put the rebels’ current strength at 5 000 combatants — with about 200 000 civilians forced to provide logistic support.
“Now we hear that they are training anybody over 15 years and below 50 years. But they cannot be motivated to fight a battle,” Fonseka said.
The rebels have not released their estimate of casualties. Figures from either side cannot be independently verified as journalists are barred from reporting from front line areas.
Fonseka said the enemy was no longer able to resist security forces using conventional tactics and were resorting to hit-and-run attacks.
The rebels, led by 53-year-old Velupillai Prabhakaran, still maintain a few fixed-wing aircraft, a formidable sea force and a band of suicide bombers known for daring attacks against security, economic and political targets.
In April 2006, General Fonseka himself narrowly escaped assassination bid, when a woman suicide bomber targeted him inside the high-security army headquarters complex.
Fonseka said morale in government ranks was high and manpower was not a problem, with 3 000 new recruits joining each month and pushing total strength to 162 000.
But he did caution that economic hardships were inevitable for ordinary people — with inflation pushing nearly 29% — as the government was fighting a brutal terrorist organisation.
“The Sinhala nation [majority Sinhalese community] has to sacrifice if you want to protect the country and survive,” the commander said.
“If a minority is ruling the majority that is a dangerous situation and it is a problem. That is unrealistic. This country will be ruled by the Sinhalese community, which is the majority representing 74% of the population.”
The LTTE have been fighting to carve out a homeland for minority Tamils in the island’s north and east.
Since July last year, security forces have been trying to dismantle the de facto separate state the guerrillas maintain in the north of the country.
Fonseka said progress had been deliberately slow.
“The tail-enders of a cricket team do not perform the same way, like the middle order batsmen and the opening batsmen do.” — AFP