Rebels Report Jaffna Close at Hand

Tamil Tiger rebels said Thursday that they were closing in on Jaffna, while Sri Lankan jets stepped up bombing sorties on guerrilla positions.

“Sri Lankan soldiers! You are occupying our land,” Voice of Tigers rebel radio broadcast. “Our cadres are advancing. We will capture Jaffna. You must surrender or withdraw.”

The broadcast, monitored in the northern town of Vavuniya, said the rebels had captured Kolombuthurai and Maniyathotam, barely half a mile from Jaffna. The rebels said Thursday night that they also had captured Tanankilappu and Kokilakandy, four miles southeast of Jaffna.

It would be the closest to Jaffna that the guerrillas have gotten since they lost their former capital in the north to the military in 1995.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, said they killed many soldiers and that several hundred civilians fled the areas.

But the government’s chief spokesman and censor said federal “troops continue to offer stiff resistance displaying firm determination to destroy the terrorists.”

The contradictory claims could not be independently verified because neither side allows journalists into the battle zone.

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross urged the warring parties to protect civilians and their property.

After fierce assaults Wednesday, the rebels said they had seized a vital bridge three miles outside Jaffna, which would bring the city’s only airport within range of their guns and block a major exit route for the defenders. The government denied the claim.

And for the second day in a row, the government raised taxes to bring in additional money for defense.

It also banned live broadcast of news and current affairs programs about national security. Censorship is already in force in Sri Lanka on all news organizations in the country.

Earlier this week, the government rejected an offer by the Tigers to a temporary cease-fire to allow the 40,000 troops to surrender Jaffna peninsula, home to most of the 3.2 million Tamil minority.

The next day, the rebels began to push toward the government line on several fronts. The fighting has left more than 100 people dead this week, according to government and rebel reports.

The rebels want to carve out a homeland in the north and the east of the country, where, they say, the Tamils will not face discrimination from the majority Sinhalese.