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S.Lankan Army Victory Compels Rebels for Peace Talks: Commander
Sri Lankan army commander Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle has said that separatist Tamil Tiger rebels were compelled to come for peace talks as a result of a series of defeats suffered by them in the northern Jaffna peninsula since last September.
Balagalle told government troops in Jaffna over the weekend, it was the successes of major military operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels that had forced them out of 140 square kilometers around Jaffna town.
The rebel losses had compelled them to abandon their bid for Jaffna and talk peace with the government, he was quoted by The Island newspaper as saying.
Several hundred Tiger rebels had been killed in these battles and many of their bodies were returned through International Committee of the Red Cross.
Though initially the Tiger rebels had offered heavy resistance and the army suffered heavy losses the position was soon reversed, he said.
The LTTE rebels extended their unilateral ceasefire which started last December for a second time till March 24 and requested the government to reciprocate their truce offer.
The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 in the north and east of the country for a separate Tamil state. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the bloody war.
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