COLOMBO: A day after Paranthan and Iranamadu Juntion were taken, the Sri Lankan army on Friday captured Kilinochchi, the administrative and political capital of the Tamil Tiger rebels, after a two-pronged assault from the north and the south.
The Sri Lankan army is in possession of Kilinochchi after a gap of 10 years. The army lost it to the LTTE in September 1998.
While Task Force I entered the town through the Karadipokku Junction in the north, the 571 Brigade of the 57 Division entered from the south, and took the railway station. The two army groups linked up in the afternoon, as the fighting progressed within the town.
Apparently, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) did not offer much resistance. Unconfirmed reports said Tiger guerillas had virtually abandoned the town to take positions elsewhere towards the east. The two-pronged assault and the loss of Paranthan in the north, and Iranamadu Junction in the south, had sealed the fate of Kilinochchi.
With the capture of Kilinochchi, the Sri Lankan army has taken the entire A9 Main Supply Route from Vavuniya in the south to Paranthan in the north. However, much remains to be done before the land route to Jaffna from the south is restored.
“Whatever the words or language used to describe it, this is truly an incomparable victory,” said President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is also Defence Minister and Commander in Chief.
“What our heroic troops have achieved is not only the capture of the great fortress of the LTTE, but a major victory in the world’s battle against terrorism,” Rajapaksa said, addressing ministers and generals in the Presidential Secretariat.
Taking a swipe at the LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabhakaran, who boasted that Kilinochchi could not be taken, and that taking it was only Rajapaksa’s “dream”, the President said that it was not only his dream, but the dream of all Sri Lankans, whether Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Burgher or Malay, who were opposed to separatism, racism, terrorism.
DON’T COMMUNALISE VICTORY RAJAPAKSA warned, “One must not belittle this victory as one that has been won by one community over another. It should not be interpreted as defeat of the North by the South.” He said it was victory over venomous terrorism that had sought to divide the people on grounds of race and religion. He cautioned that the task was not finished. “I call upon you to continue with your commitment to the country until the final act of this false Eelam struggle is played to the finish.”