How Sri Lanka defeated the LTTE

[Surferbeetle]

Bloomberg has an interesting article this evening on Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan Army Captures Mannar Water Control Area From Rebels

By Paul Tighe

Feb. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka's army captured sluice gates controlling water supplies in the Mannar area in the latest advance against bases held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the north.

As many as 30 Tamil Tiger fighters were killed or wounded during a daylong battle in Sinnaodaippu, the Defense Ministry said on its Web site late yesterday. The LTTE hasn't commented on the attack.

Air force jets bombed an LTTE artillery command center in Jaffna yesterday and pilots ``confirmed that the target was accurately taken,'' the ministry said.

Sri Lanka's military is staging almost daily attacks on the LTTE's estimated 7,000 fighters in the north, the last region held by the group after it lost control of the east in July. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government has vowed to eradicate terrorism in the north while seeking a political settlement with all Tamil groups in the region.

The LTTE, designated a terrorist group by the U.S. the European Union and India, has been fighting for a separate homeland for 25 years in a conflict that has killed more the 70,000 people.

[Jedburgh]

HRW, 6 Mar 08: Recurring Nightmare: State Responsibility for “Disappearances” and Abductions in Sri Lanka

The resumption of major military operations between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in mid-2006 has brought the return of a haunting phenomenon from the country’s past—the widespread abduction and “disappearance” of young men by the parties to the conflict. With the de facto breakdown of the 2002 Norway-brokered ceasefire between the parties, and its formal dissolution in January 2008, it is likely armed conflict will intensify in thecoming year. Unless the Sri Lankan government takes far more decisive action to end the practice, uncover the fate of persons unaccounted for, and prosecute those responsible, then 2008 could see another surge in “disappearances.”

Hundreds of enforced disappearances committed since 2006 have already placed Sri Lanka among the countries with the highest number of new cases in the world. The victims are primarily young ethnic Tamil men who “disappear”—often after being picked up by government security forces in the country’s embattled north and east, but also in the capital Colombo. Some may be members or supporters of the LTTE, but this does not justify their detention in secret or without due process. Most are feared dead....

Complete 243 page report at the link.