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NEW DELHI: In what would mark a major victory for the Sri Lankan Government, the Army claimed to have captured the country's entire northern peninsula, the cultural heartland of the Tamil Tiger rebels.
The announcement by the military that it had captured the Jaffna Peninsula came as the fallout deepened over the murder of a newspaper editor who had spoken out against the Government.
Jurgen Weerth, the German Ambassador, was called before the country's Foreign Ministry, which expressed its displeasure at a speech he had delivered the previous day as editor Lasantha Wickrematunga was buried amid tight security.
"Today is a day when one remains speechless," Weerth, the most senior foreign envoy in the country, had said. "Maybe we should have spoken before this. Today it is too late. Today is a day when humanity has lost a major voice of truth."
A military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, said all of Jaffna was secured when soldiers captured Chundikkulam village. Last week they captured the Elephant Pass base. The development, if true, means that the Tigers now have just one last stronghold, centred on the district of Mullaittivu.
Wickrematunga, editor of the Sunday Leader, was an outspoken critic of the Government and the country's President, Mahinda Rajapakse. While he also criticised the Tigers, he said there was little point "bowling at the fielding side".
The editor, who was shot at close range near Colombo as he drove to work a week ago, certainly knew he was in danger. In a remarkable essay published by his newspaper after his death, Wickrematunga blamed the Government. "People often ask me why I take such risks and tell me it is a matter of time before I am bumped off," he wrote.
"Of course I know that: it is inevitable. But if we do not speak out now, there will be no one left to speak for those who cannot."
- INDEPENDENT
