Word: jaffna
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...effort to control Jaffna, the Tamils' last major stronghold, India last week increased its Tiger-fighting force to an estimated 11,000. A scheme to isolate Tamil leaders by offering conditional amnesty to the rebels' rank and file fizzled, however, when no Tigers accepted the offer...
Slogging their way through heavy rains, 6,000 Indian troops surrounded Jaffna town in northern Sri Lanka last week and advanced in a four-pronged assault. Resisting them every step of the way were about 2,000 guerrillas from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the rebel group that has led a four-year struggle to gain an independent homeland for the West Virginia-size island's Tamil minority. Tens of thousands of terrified civilians were caught in the middle of the fighting. Most of them abandoned their homes and huddled in temples and schools, as food supplies grew scarce...
...than 20,000, to launch their all-out drive against the Tigers. With Jayewardene's blessing, the Indians began moving against Tiger hideouts in the east, killing three rebels and arresting 98. Next Gandhi's forces began the much more difficult job of rooting the Tigers out of the Jaffna Peninsula, their main stronghold. After securing control of most of the peninsula, the Indians advanced on Jaffna town behind artillery and air strikes...
...Indians tightened their grip on Jaffna, Prabakaran appealed to Gandhi for a cease-fire to "negotiate matters." Gandhi, however, has apparently stopped listening. Instead, he sent some 1,000 Indian reinforcements to the island in preparation for a final assault. Prabakaran and his men showed every sign of resisting to the end. But as one Sri Lankan intelligence officer observed with much satisfaction, it will be "only a matter of time before the Indians smash...
...hope to establish a separate Tamil nation, promised to lay down their weapons only to avoid confrontation with the 7,000 Indian troops who are enforcing the agreement. An amnesty for rebels and Tamil prisoners took effect last week. Even so, compliance with the surrender seemed halfhearted. At a Jaffna air base, Sri Lankan officials received six truckloads of guerrilla weaponry, including .50- cal. machine guns, AK-47 assault rifles and homemade mortars. But the arms dump was also salted with rusty rifles and shells the Tigers would probably never use. The final turn-in rate might...