Lankan army 6 sq km away from last LTTE hideout

Colombo: Making a final push to overrun the last patch of LTTE-held territory, Sri Lankan forces on Sunday captured strategic Vlayarmadam area and encircled remaining 6 sq km strip of land which is the possible hideout of LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran and his top aides.
"Sri Lankan soldiers have liberated Valayarmadam area and so far rescued 500 civilians held hostage by LTTE from there," the defence ministry said on Sunday. According to the defence sources, army commandos and special forces soldiers backed by infantrymen of 10 Sri Lanka Light Infantry and 12 Gemunu Watch last evening entered into Valayarmadam area, located just 6 km from Vellamullivaikkal, the last remaining LTTE hideout.
"Troops declared the area fully secured this morning (Sunday). So far, soldiers have been able to rescue over 500 hostages," it said. Valayarmadam is just six km short of Vellamullivaikkal, the last remaining LTTE hideout where thousands of civilians still remained trapped. Meanwhile, LTTE's political head B Nadesan has denied the charges that his group was forcibly recruiting children as fighters to confront the government forces.
"LTTE political head B Nadesan has categorically denied recruitment and arming children as young as 12 to fight alongside the Tigers as alleged by news reports citing the UN," the pro-rebel Tamilnet website said.
UN official reaches ColomboThe UN Colombo office accusation coincides with the visit of the Emergency Relief Coordinator of the UN and Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes. Nearly 110,000 people have fled the war-zone and come to the government-controlled areas since last Monday, taking the total number of Internally Displaced People (IDP) to over 180,000.
Amid mounting international appeal for the safety of thousands of civilians affected by fighting, the UN Humanitarian Affairs chief John Holmes arrived here late Saturday aiming "to see at first hand the situation of civilians affected by fighting in the island's north".
During his two-day stay in Colombo, Holmes is expected "to visit camps for the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the fighting and to raise continuing high levels of concern about those still trapped", the UN said. "The top priority remains the preservation of the lives of the tens of thousands of civilians still trapped inside the combat zone," said Holmes.
"But I also want to see the people in the camps, to visit UN staff being held there, and to review how the sudden outflow of so many people from the combat zone is being managed," Holmes said before leaving for Colombo.
Although the government officials say that they were coping with the situation in providing the basic facilities to the IDPs, the UN said that the sudden outflow of such a large mass of people "threatens to overwhelm existing systems".
The LTTE has been fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the north and eastern parts of the country for the past quarter century.