Sri Lankan forces capture important rebel stronghold
Security forces have moved into Sampur, 10 kilometres across the Koddiya Bay from the Trincomalee naval and air complex, President Mahinda Rajapakse announced at a rally for his Sri Lanka Freedom party yesterday.
“Our troops have captured Sampur,” he said to thunderous applause during 55th anniversary celebrations for the main component of the ruling coalition.
“This is not war, we are only responding to an attack on us.”
Rajapakse said that despite the victory, he still wanted a negotiated settlement to the island’s protracted Tamil separatist conflict, which has claimed more than 60,000 lives in the past three decades.
“We need to work together to banish racial hatred and bring peace ... the honourable peace promised in my election manifesto,” Rajapakse said.
Rajapakse came to power in November promising an “honourable peace” and to bring the Tiger guerrillas back to peace talks brokered by Norway, despite pressure from two of his allies to wage all-out war against the rebels.
The Tigers had said last week that if the army tried to take control of Sampur, it would lead to the collapse of a fragile ceasefire in place since February 2002.
As Rajapakse addressed followers at a tightly-guarded ceremony here, Tiger rebels set off a Claymore mine against a bus transporting constables in the island’s north, police said, adding that the vehicle narrowly escaped being hit.
Troops moved into Sampur yesterday after weeks of fighting which included artillery, air and ground attacks after the rebels apparently decided to abandon the position.
