In this handout photo provided by the Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lankan army soldiers receive internally displaced ethnic Tamil civilians in Kariyalamullivaikal, Sri Lanka, Saturday, May 16, 2009. (AP Photo/Sri Lanka Army, HO)Sri Lanka President Declares Victory In Civil War -- AP
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said Saturday that his country had defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels on the battlefield and emerged victorious from its quarter century civil war.
"My government, with the total commitment of our armed forces, has in an unprecedented humanitarian operation finally defeated the LTTE militarily," he said referring to the rebels by their formal name, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
"I will be going back to a country that has been totally freed from the barbaric acts of the LTTE," he said in a speech at an international gathering in Jordan that was distributed to the media in Sri Lanka.
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More News On The Civil War In Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka army 'defeats rebels' -- BBC
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers 'defeated' -- Al Jazeera
Sri Lanka Claims Total Victory Over Rebels Imminent -- Voice of America
Sri Lankan army pushes on with final assault on cornered Tamils -- The Guardian
Sri Lanka Military: Tamil Tigers Plan Mass Suicide During Final Assault -- AHN
Sri Lanka Says Rebel Sea Unit Cornered as People Flee -- Bloomberg
Sri Lanka military cuts off rebel sea escape -- AP
Q+A-Plight of civilians at end of Sri Lanka's war -- Reuters
SCENARIOS-The end of Sri Lanka's quarter-century war -- Reuters