Sri Lanka Troops Advance Through Rebel-Held Town

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Government troops advanced through booby-trapped buildings and mined streets Saturday, seeking to capture a hospital building and gain a strategic edge in war-ravaged Jaffna, military officials said.

The hospital is in the center of the rebel-held town and about a mile from Jaffna Fort, controlled by government troops that claim they defeated Tamil separatist guerrillas Thursday to end a three-month siege.

The government, meanwhile, warned citizens of possible attack by Tamil forces in the northern Jaffna region, most of which is controlled by the rebels.

“Due to the success of the security forces in the Jaffna Peninsula, the (Tamil Tigers) hierarchy has instructed its cadres to attack civilians,” said a defense ministry statement issued Saturday.

Military officials did not say how far their men had advanced toward the hospital. But a senior officer said troops were under constant rebel fire and progress was slow because of mines buried in the streets and booby traps hidden in buildings along the way.

Control of the hospital would give the Sinhalese-dominated government a major base in the town of 60,000 people and, more importantly, a chance to win support among residents by resuming medical services.

The overwhelmingly Tamil town 185 miles northeast of the capital city of Colombo has been a rebel stronghold since the separatist war against Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority began in 1983.

But recent battles in the area and the rebel’s strong-arm tactics of soliciting funds have sapped enthusiasm for the guerrillas’ cause in Jaffna, visitors to the town said.

At least 14,000 people have been killed in the civil war.

The government says 25 soldiers have been killed and at least 136 wounded since the siege on the 17th-Century fort was broken Thursday. It claims more than 100 Tamil rebels have died.

The Tamil office in London, however, denied the siege had been broken.

The rebels seek political autonomy or independence for the Tamil minority, claiming Sinhalese discrimination in jobs, education and use of the Sinhala language.

The Sinhalese, who comprise 75% of the nation’s 16 million people, control the government and the military.

Tamils account for 18% of the people who live in the island nation. Muslims make up 7% of the population.