SRI LANKA TAMIL CIVILIANS

Tamil civilians rescued by Lankan army

Large numbers of Tamil civilians hitherto held forcibly by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the government declared No Fire Zone for civilians, arrive into military controlled areas after troops overran the last earth bund obstructing their path in the early hours at Puthumattalan in Mullaitivu 412 km north-east of Colombo, 20 April 2009. In what is probably the world�s largest single civilian hostage rescue operation, the Sri Lankan army carried out a night maneuver and breached the last of the obstruction manned by the LTTE fighting for a separate state. The separatists were boxed within a 17sq km land area after losing control of almost half the island they held earlier. They claimed that the civilians were not willing to enter government areas. But as the bund was breached in the early hours of April 20, thousands of civilians risked being shot by their so called �sole representatives� and rushed into government territory. By end of the day nearly 40,000 had crossed over and were being provided assistance by the military. EPA/SRI LANKA ARMY MEDIA UNIT/HO EDITORIAL USE ONLY

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