Sri Lankan army soldiers relish their advance. This morning, and for the first time in 25 years of war, they took control of the entire coastline, according to military officials. They make it impossible for Tamil warriors to have any access to the sea, and now completely encircle the tiny territory of one square kilometer in which the Tigers have taken refuge.
In this area of northern Sri Lanka, the final assault is being played out. The army said yesterday that it would take less than 48 hours to end a deadly civil war, and to free tens of thousands of civilians who serve as human shields for the Tigers, according to the United Nations. Civilians who by all means are trying to escape hell, nearly 15,000 people fled in two days, including 10,000 yesterday.
The Tamil Tigers began their fight for a separate state for the Tamil minority in the early 1970s. The civil war since 1983 has claimed 70,000 lives.