No Way for Prabha to Escape from Lanka
RAMESHWARAM, Tamil Nadu, Friday (IANS) LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran could not have escaped from Sri Lanka, an Indian Coast Guard official said here yesterday. “There is no way that Mr. Prabhakaran or his aides could have escaped from Sri Lanka in a submarine or otherwise because the attempt would have been clearly spotted on our land-based and offshore radars,” Coast Guard Commanding Officer S. Janarthanam told reporters at this minor port town on the southeast coast lying 600 km south of state capital Chennai.
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THOUSANDS of children recruited by the LTTE have surrendered. Forcefully recruited by the terrorists, the children and survivors recount horrific tales of the LTTE’s brutalities. One of the child soldiers who surrendered, Sasi Kanakariga Pillai says; “We used to go to school, but were always in hiding. If the LTTE found out that we were at home they would catch us. They would give some training and deploy us as LTTE fighters.” LTTE forcefully recruited thousands of children like Sasi to bolster its strength.
"I APPEAL to every one of you to come over to the cleared areas," states President Mahinda Rajapaksa to the Tamil civilians held hostage by the LTTE in the No Fire Zone in the North. The President’s appeal in the Tamil language dated May 1, air-dropped to the civilians still in the NFZ assures that the government will continue to give “utmost priority to ensure the safety and welfare of” each and every one of them.
MULLAITTIVU: TROOPS engaged in search and clear operations in VALAYALAMADAM south, and UDAYARKATTU areas recovered seventy-eight hand grenades, one Multi Purpose Machine Gun (MPMG) ammunition box, one LTTE combat kit, two LTTE pouches, one pack, two fiberglass boats, one 81 mm mortar base plate, seventy 82 mm mortar bombs, seventy 81mm mortar bombs, one 60 mm mortar bomb, five hundred and fifty 81mm mortar cartridges, three T-56 weapons, eighteen MPMG (Multi Purpose Machine Gun) tripods, .....
AMPARA: EXCHANGE of gun fire took place between Special Task Force (STF) troops and a group of LTTE terrorists when the STF encircled the terrorist group hiding in the KANCHIKUDICHCHIARU jungle Saturday (2) afternoon. Four terrorists were killed while a few more withdrew to interior of the jungle. STF later conducted a search in the area and recovered four LTTE dead bodies, four T-56 weapons, one micro pistol, one pistol magazine with eight ammunition, eight T-56 magazines, forty-four M-16 ammunition, two hundred and five T-56 ammunition, three hand grenades, two I-com sets, two antennas,.....
ARMY intelligence has launched an extensive investigation on the LTTE's intrusion over the Sri Lanka Army's official website (.jpg)
"WHAT matters most is what the average citizen of this country wants and hopes for," Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said during an interview with the Sunday Observer. Following are the excerpts: Q: At this juncture, when the Security Forces are on the verge of victory in their war against terrorism we see the Government is under pressure over many issues especially from the international community. How would you explain this situation?
“IT’S HEARTWARMING that people from the South of Sri Lanka, most of them Sinhalese, are collecting goods and money for the internally displaced people from the North,” Japan’s special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi told a news conference in Colombo last night. “I hope this spirit of harmony and friendship will prevail in the future.” However, he said that life “still rough and tough” for the newly arrived IDPs and conditions could be and should be better. Hopefully there would be positive co-corporation between the government and the various UN and other agencies in archiving this objective. He hoped the LTTE “will change its attitude” and let the remaining civilians in rebel-held areas move out and the government will live by its stated objective of zero civilians casualties in the combat areas. 