Sri Lankan soldiers have launched the final assault on the strongholds of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and claim to have captured further territory from the latter, as thousands of trapped civilians continued to flee the northern war zone, reports say.
Minutes after the expiry of the 24-hour deadline to the LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran to surrender, Sri Lankan troops seized Puthumathalan hospital and breached the eastern coast of the no-fire zone, where the LTTE's top brass is believed to be hiding.
Reports say Sri Lankan forces have virtually cut the small 7.7-square-mile (20-square-kilometer) strip of land being held by the LTTE into two.
And, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse says that the government's offer to the LTTE to surrender still stands. He adds that Prabhakaran and his aides can lay down their arms after all civilians have been rescued from the no-fire zone.
By Tuesday evening, the military said, 52,000 Tamils came out after the soldiers broke through a barrier built by the rebels to protect their territory. Thousands of civilians also took to the sea, packing onto small boats to flee the ever-shrinking piece of coastal territory into which the military has pushed the rebels.
Naval boats patrolled the waters, pulling those fleeing aboard their vessels before transporting them to camps, where Tamils who escaped the war zone were being accommodated.
Meanwhile, rights groups say the rebels are holding many civilians against their will to use them as human shields. They also accuse the government of indiscriminate shelling in the tightly-packed region to end the 25-year-old civil war. Both sides deny the allegations levelled against them.
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June 19, 2026 16:46 ET Major central banks continued to dominate the economic news flow this week too, led by the Federal Reserve, as they announced their latest policy decisions. The Federal Reserve policy session was in focus as it was the first to be led by the new chief Kevin Warsh. In Europe, central banks of the U.K. and Switzerland announced their rate decisions. In Asia, the Bank of Japan drew attention for its policy moves, while data out of China threw some light on the state of the economy.