Sri Lanka Army Ends Combat, Begins Rescue

Civilian deaths keep mounting in civil war's endgame
By Jason Farago,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 27, 2009 4:23 AM CDT
Sri Lanka Army Ends Combat, Begins Rescue
Displaced Sri Lankan ethnic Tamil civilians line up to receive food at a camp in Vavuniya, Sri Lanka, yesterday.   (AP Photo/ Sanath Priyantha)

The Sri Lankan army has announced an end to shelling in the tiny coastal strip where the Tamil Tigers mounted their last stand in the 26-year civil war, CNN reports. The army is set to move in and rescue trapped civilians whose situation the UN has called catastrophic; many were killed and more than 100,000 displaced as the war drew to a close. Officials yesterday rejected as a “joke” a ceasefire proposed by the rebels.
(More Sri Lanka stories.)

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