This handout picture released on January 10 shows Sri Lankan army troops at the entrance to the Jaffna Peninsula following the capture of Elephant Pass. Sri Lanka's military on Sunday launched air attacks against the last remaining jungle hideouts of Tamil Tiger rebels after driving them out of their main strongholds, officials said. (AFP/HO)Sri Lanka Says Rebel Group On Brink Of Defeat -- Yahoo News/AP
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – When Hamilton Wanasinghe was Sri Lanka's military chief in the early 1990s, he tried to buy desperately needed weapons from Russia to fight the Tamil Tiger rebels. Money was so short he offered to trade crates of tea for arms.
The Sri Lankan treasury rejected the deal, Wanasinghe says. Then, three years ago, a new president took office and the coffers burst open.
Military recruitment swelled, training improved and hundreds of millions of dollars were spent on new hardware to crush the rebels and end a civil war that has lasted 25 years and killed more than 70,000 people on this teardrop-shaped island off India's southern tip.
"The sky is the limit. Whatever the country can afford, they get," Wanasinghe said.
Senior officials, analysts, diplomats and former military officers say President Mahinda Rajapaksa's commitment to the fight — coupled with a string of miscalculations by the Tamil Tigers — has brought one of the world's most sophisticated rebel groups to the brink of defeat.
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More News On The Sri Lanka War
SCENARIOS: Is Sri Lanka about to finish off the Tamil Tigers? -- Reuters
Sri Lanka: Soldiers seize rebel training camp -- Yahoo News/AP
Sri Lankan air strikes hit retreating rebels: govt -- Yahoo News/AFP
Sri Lanka Says Troops are Gaining in Elephant Pass -- Voice of America
Sri Lankan Troops Seize Base, Pushing Rebels Into Corner -- Associated Press
3,000 Sri Lankan troops killed in three months, Army to double – newspapers -- Tamilnet