The Elusive Last Stand

April 1, 2009: The LTTE is, officially, defending less than a square kilometer of territory in the northeast. Most LTTE operations are now taking place inside the 20 square kilometer "neutral zone" set up to protect the Tamil civilians the LTTE fighters have forced to serve as human shields. Most LTTE fighters, including those operating artillery and mortars, are inside the neutral zone. It is believed that only about 50,000 Tamil civilians remain in the neutral zone, and over 2,000 a day have been getting out. That's because of the small number of LTTE fighters still active. The LTTE doesn't have enough armed people to stop the human shields from fleeing. The army has three divisions of troops surrounding the neutral zone, and LTTE fighters who show themselves get attacked. There are over a hundred casualties a day, most of the LTTE fighters or Tamil civilians being used as human shields. The LTTE continues to try and shoot their way past the Sri Lankan army, to get key people into Sri Lanka, where they can continue the fight by organizing guerilla and terror operations.

Three years ago, the LTTE controlled 15,000 square kilometers of land. Now they are trying to flee their last scrap of contested territory. In southern India, special army units have been sent in to search for any LTTE personnel who have escaped across the narrow straits. There are many LTTE sympathizers in this part of India (Tamil Nadu state), and the soldiers are sometimes going house to house, checking Ids and looking for known LTTE officials reported to be in the area.

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