SRI LANKA SECURITY FORCES CAPTURE ELUSIVE VAKARAI
BRINGING CLOSE TO ARMY’S GOAL OF FLUSHING OUT EASTERN TIGERS

By Walter Jayawardhana

Sri Lanka security forces said they have successfully captured the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) held Eastern town of Vakarai during the morning hours of Friday January 19.

Unable to withstand the intrusive security forces of the Sri Lanka government the LTTE fighters fled the Vakarai town, the Army said in an announcement.

“Following an hours long effort the SL army troops finally liberated the Vakarai town and hospital which was used as an artillery launching pad by the terrorists keeping civilians as human shields, the army sources said.

The army sources said right at the moment the ground troops are consolidating their defenses in the Vakarai town area.

As soon as it was seen the LTTE was losing their grip on the town more than 10,000 Tamil refugees who were believed to have been kept by the LTTE inside Vakarai town area started escaping and fled to the government controlled areas independent observers said.

Some of those Tamil refugees left on foot other on tractors towards the South of Vakarai, areas held by the government of Sri Lanka. They were carrying white flags.

Aid workers said the refugees were reaching government held areas along the coast and the others came trekking many miles through jungles.

The Red Cross started caring for them immediately . Some said there was a river of refugees amounting to about 12,000. Before this according to United Nations estimates about 25,000 escaped the LTTE held area.

The security forces were waiting patiently until the majority of the refugees came out to give the LTTE their final blow. The LTTE was limited to a stretch of about 12 miles when the victorious Sri Lankan forces who surrounded them from many sides gave them the final blow.

With the fall of of Vakarai, came the end of their final direct access to sea in the Eastern Province where they are now restricted to extremely tiny pockets of land.

Only weeks ago Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka promised that that he would flush out the LTTE from the Eastern Province. With the fall of Vakarai, their access to sea supplies, and the fall of nearly 15 interconnected jungle garrisons to the elite police commandos, it seems the dream of Fonseka could be realized soon. (