Tigers want ceasefire to re-group - Strategy Page

The LTTE wants a ceasefire so they can rebuild their ranks and develop new guerrilla and terror tactics to regain lost territory. The Sri Lankan government is determined to crush the LTTE army short term, and deal with the LTTE terrorists in the long term, the respected military website Strategy Page said.

The website said: "The Army advance is still moving along the coast, where the monsoon rains are less of a problem. Troops are seven kilometres from opening a land link to the Jaffna peninsula (2,300 square kilometres of territory at the northern tip of the island.

India has renewed its ban on the LTTE for another two years. So far, 30 nations have banned the LTTE, usually as a terrorist organisation. But in the complex world of Indian politics, the LTTE still has allies. The LTTE has been trying to use this Indian political support to force the Sri Lankan Government to accept a ceasefire. But the Sri Lankans demand that the LTTE disarm first, and the LTTE won't do that. In northern Sri Lanka, the LTTE is conscripting all males aged 12-50 for military training, and to form a reserve for the several thousand active duty fighters who are facing the Army along the front lines. To avoid military service, and certain death, more Tamil civilians are trying to flee LTTE controlled territory. This is not easy to do, because of the LTTE control over the fishing villages (and the boats there), as well as all the LTTE gunmen manning the front lines on land.