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19 Tamil Tigers killed in fresh fighting

Lankan army chief sees 'war nearly won

AFP, AP, Colombo
Sri Lanka's army chief said yesterday his forces had wiped out two-thirds of the Tamil Tigers' military capability, and that the decades-old conflict with the rebels was at its tail-end while 19 more rebels killed in fresh fighting.
Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said the liberation Tigers ofTamil Eelam (LTTE) would gradually start collapsing, the state-run Daily News paper said.
We are almost at the beginning of the end... we are nearing the turning point now, through the way LTFE is reacting. In another three
to four months time you would see very clearly how the things change," he said.
He said security forces had already advanced 40km into rebel-controlled territory in the north.
The military drive is now moving fast, he said, indicating that rebels either offered little assistance or melted away. "Every week we move about three km unlike in the past," he said.
He said the Tigers had lost at least 9,000 fighters in the latest round of fighting, and put the rebels' current strength at 5,000 combatants •- with around 200,000 civilians forced to provide logistic
support.
"Now we hear that they are training anybody over 15 years and below 50 years. But they cannot be motivated to fight a battle," Fonsekasaid.
The rebels have not released their estimate of casualties. Figures from either side cannot be independently verified as journalists are barred from reporting from front line areas.
Fonscka said the enemy was no longer able to resist security forces using conventional tactics and were resorting to hit-and-run attacks. FROM PAGE 16
I he rebels, led by 53 year-old Velupillai Prabhakaran, still maintain a few fixed-wing aircraft, a formidable sea force and a hand of suicide bombers known for daring attacks against security, economic and political targets.
In April 2006, General Fonseka himself narrowly escaped assassination bid, when a woman suicide bomber targeted him inside the high-security army headquarters complex.
Fonseka said morale in government ranks was high and manpower was not a problem, with 3,000 new recruits joining each month and pushing total strength to 162,000.
But he did caution that economic hardships were inevitable for ordinary people -- with inflation pushing nearly 29 percent --as the government was fighting a brutal terroristorganisation.
"The Sinhala nation (majority Sinhalese community) has to sacrifice if you want to protect the country and survive," the commander said.
"If a minority is ruling the majority that is a dangerous situation and it is a problem.That is unrealistic. This country will be ruled by the Sinhalese community which is the majority representing 74 percent of the population."
The LTTE have been fighting to carve out a homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east.
Since July last year, security forces have been trying to dismantle the de facto separate state the guerrillas maintain in the north of the country.
Fonseka said progress had been deliberately slow.
"The tail-enders of a cricket team do not perform the same way, like the middle order batsmen and the opening batsmen do."
In fresh fighting Sri Lankan government forces killed 19Tamil Tiger rebels along the front lines
of the island nation's civil war, the military said Saturday.
Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said Friday's worst fighting took place in northern Vavuniya district, where nine rebels were killed.
Seven insurgents were killed along the Welioya front, while three more were killed in Jaffna, hesaid.
No government soldiers were killed in the fighting but a few were wounded. Nanayakkara said.
Thirty Tamil Tiger rebels and four soldiers were killed in two days of gunbattles in Sri Lanka, the defence ministry said Friday.
Ground battles took place on Wednesday and Thursday across the tropical island’s war-torn northern region, the ministry said in a statement.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be immediately reached for comment, and it was not possible to verify the military's claims because journalists are banned from the war zone.
Tamil Tiger rebels have been fighting since 1983 to create an independent homeland for the country's ethnic minority Tamils, who have faced marginalization by successive governments controlled by majority ethnic Sinhalese.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.