The Sri Lankan military claimed Wednesday that Tamil Tiger rebels are in a state of disarray due to continued government military offensives in the island's north and northeast.
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman, told reporters that intensive military offensives against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have continued since the Feb. 14 and the rebels have suffered a large number of casualties.
The recurring air strikes and ground offensives against identified rebel positions in the districts of Vavuniya, Mannar and Welioya have instilled fear on rebel leaders forcing them to restrict their movements, the spokesman said.
"They do not even attend funerals of their members dying in fighting," Nanayakkara said.
The Army maintains that the LTTE is suffering heavily by way of casualties in the current fighting.
Some 26 bodies of LTTE members dying in fighting have been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross, Nanayakkara said.
The government says the fighting is part of its drive to eliminate terrorism perpetrated by the LTTE.
The LTTE has been fighting the troops since the mid-1980s to carve out a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in the north and east.
Source: Xinhua
|
Comment
Tell A Friend
Print Format
Save Article