By Jay Shankar
Sept. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lankan soldiers are close to capturing the headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in northern Kilinochchi district, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said.
The army is 4 1/2 kilometers (2 miles) from Kilinochchi town and it is ``a matter of time before this will be liberated,'' Rajapaksa said, according to a Sri Lankan newspaper report cited on the Defense Ministry's Web site today. Security forces have been instructed not to harm civilians, he said.
Rajapaksa's government has stepped up its military offensive against the Tamil Tigers by conducting air raids targeting LTTE leaders and destroying weapons-smuggling boats. It is moving to end the LTTE's 25-year campaign for a separate Tamil homeland.
Rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was wounded in an air raid on the group's headquarters in Kilinochchi town in December, the government said at the time. S.P. Thamilchelvan, head of the group's political wing, died in a Nov. 2 air raid near Kilinochchi. The Tamil Tigers lost control of the Eastern Province in July last year leaving them holding areas only in the north.
Rebel Control
An ``accelerated development'' program has been implemented in the east and Sri Lanka has ``showcased'' to the world how terrorism can be defeated, Rajapaksa said. He questioned rebel assertions that they control the north, saying food and medical amenities are provided by the government.
``It is we who pay the pensions of those citizens,'' Rajapaksa said at a Buddhist temple in New York, where he will attend the United Nations General Assembly this week, according to the report. ``So, how can the LTTE claim that this area is under them.''
The LTTE's Peace Secretariat says the army offensives and bombing raids have forced more than 113,000 people from their homes in northern villages.
The conflict has left more than 70,000 people dead in the country of 20 million people. Tamils made up 11.9 percent of the population and ethnic Sinhalese almost 74 percent in 2001, according to a census that year.
While the military estimates the Tamil Tigers only have between 3,000 and 5,000 fighters, some defense analysts say the number may be as high as 10,000 and units are able to operate freely in the jungle terrain in the northern Wanni region where Kilinochchi lies.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jay Shankar in Bangalore at jshankar1@bloomberg.net.
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