US keeps sharp focus on Tiger killings

{Sydney Morning Herald Asia-Pacific editor, Hamish McDonaldIn}

May 2009, hell was a strip of sand on the north-east coast of Sri Lanka where a surrounding government army was raining shells, bullets and bombs on a cut-off rebel army, the Tamil Tigers, and thousands of trapped civilians.

As the end came near, three Tiger leaders tried to save themselves and their families, arranging a surrender in mobile phone calls and text messages involving the government's foreign secretary in the capital Colombo, Norwegian diplomats, a British journalist and others.

They were told to advance across to government lines in a non-threatening manner, raising their hands, and bearing a white cloth.

http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/politics/us-keeps-sharp-focus-on-tiger-killings-20120217-1te99.html