REFUGEE

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse opened a war memorial in the north on Wednesday to remember the government soldiers who were killed in the island's 30-year long civil war concluded in May with the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels.

Officials from the president's office said Rajapakse ceremonially opened the war memorial at Puthukudiyiruppu, where the last battles between the troops and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were fought early this year.

The president's northern trip also brought him to Puthumathalanarea where LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed on the bank of Nandikadal lagoon in May.

Large number of Tamil civilians were trapped in the Puthumathalan area in the final days of the civil war. They were later transferred to government-run refugee camps in the northern Vavuniya and Jaffna districts.

Rajapakse's destination also included Menik Farm welfare camp in Vavuniya where more than 100,000 war displaced Tamil civilians are still being accommodated.

The government has already resettled around 145,000 civilians to their native places and promised to resettle the remaining civilians by the end of January next year.