Colombo to try to capture key highway

Colombo to try to capture key highway

COLOMBO (AP): Sri Lankan government troops were beefing up their strength and preparing to wrest a key road junction from Tamil Tiger guerrillas on the main highway in northern Sri Lanka, military officials said yesterday.

Air force jets bombed guerrilla defenses near Puliyankulam junction early yesterday to prevent the rebels from digging trenches and sowing mines before the soldiers advance, said military officials on condition of anonymity.

Reporters are barred from the area of fighting, 235 kilometers north of Colombo.

The soldiers, backed by tanks, artillery and warplanes are trying to open a land route to Jaffna Peninsula, a former rebel stronghold now in government hands but accessible only by sea and air. They have so far captured a quarter of the 70-kilometer highway.

At Puliyankulam, the highway meets a road leading to Mullaittivu, the largest rebel held town. A year ago, the rebels overran the government garrison there, killing nearly all of its 1,400 troops.

The rebels are fighting to establish a homeland for minority Tamils, who account for 18 percent of Sri Lanka's 18 million people.

They claim they are discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese, who control the government and the military.

There has been a lull in fighting since Wednesday, when two columns of 10,000 soldiers each who were advancing toward Puliyankulam from different directions, linked up 1.5 kilometers south of the town.

The link-up closed a gap in government lines through which the guerrillas had staged three massive counter strikes to delay the military offensive which began three months ago.

The last rebel attack, on Aug. 2, left 67 soldiers and 126 guerrillas dead, rebel and military officials said.

Control of the highway is crucial in the 14-year-old war in which more than 50,000 people have been killed.

More than 500 soldiers and 1,200 rebels have been killed in the highway offensive, according to government figures.