A “historic victory for the nation”… These are the words of the president of Sri Lanka, whose army today seized the city of Kilinochchi, political capital of the rebels of the Tamil Tigers.
Last September, UN agencies and humanitarian organizations present in Kilinocchi had to withdraw under pressure from the Sri Lankan state, as a sign of an imminent offensive. The fall of this symbolic city, after several months of fighting, is a terrible setback for the separatist guerrillas of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who had controlled Kilinochchi for ten years and had made it the political “capital” of their mini-state in the north of the island. Tamil rebels are responsible for several deadly attacks in Colombo in recent weeks.