Sri Lanka Reports Gains on Rebels

The government said Friday that its troops have seized nearly total control of a strategic sector of the Jaffna Peninsula from Tamil guerrillas, and authorities denied allegations by India that civilians are being massacred.

“The whole of the Vadamarachchi area is more or less under the dominance of the security forces,” a government statement said.

Diplomats in Colombo said that they believe the report is correct. “They have made significant gains in Vadamarachchi, and I think they have taken the main port, Valvettiturai,” an Asian diplomat said.

Seizure of the area has been the government’s main aim since it launched its biggest-ever offensive against separatist guerrillas in the peninsula Tuesday.

The Vadamarachchi area, comprising about a quarter of the Jaffna Peninsula, was described by officials as the rebels’ biggest stronghold.

“They had a large number of training camps, bunkers and ammunition dumps in the region,” one official said.

More than 3,000 troops were deployed to break the power of the guerrillas, who have virtually controlled the Jaffna Peninsula for two years. The rebels are fighting for a separate Tamil state.

In a statement Thursday, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India accused Sri Lanka of the “cold-blooded slaughter of thousands of Sri Lankan citizens.”

Authorities heatedly denied Gandhi’s accusation as well as allegations from the south Indian city of Madras that more than 500 Tamil civilians have been killed.