Fierce fighting as troops launch operation in north

Hard on the heels of their victory at Toppigala in the East, security forces yesterday launched a military offensive in the Wanni to re-capture guerilla held areas. At the crack of dawn, troops broke out of their defended localities towards Tampanai and Periya Tampanai, east of the Madhu area, to advance forward. Ahead of this advance, from midnight artillery, multi barrel rockets and mortars were fired at rebel positions.

Later in the day, Air Force jets bombed guerilla positions in the area. Army spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told The Sunday Times last night ten soldiers were killed and 32 injured in the confrontation. The wounded were airlifted to hospitals in Anuradhapura in Air Force helicopters.

A military official said they inflicted heavy casualties on the guerrillas. Independent verification of counts on both sides was not possible. However, other sources claimed that the guerillas were offering stiff resistance to moves by troops to advance.

The Army official said troops had pushed the Tiger guerillas further into the Wanni area from the defense lines. He said the troops were now consolidating in the defended localities held by the guerrillas until yesterday. However, LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said last night that Government troops, assisted by the Air Force, MBRL and artillery cover had tried to enter

LTTE-controlled areas from two fronts at Piraiyanlakulam and Iranailluppaikulam but were driven back at Tampanai by their cadres. He claimed that the troops had begun their forward movement around 6.00 a.m. yesterday but were pushed back to their original positions by last evening.

Mr. Ilanthirayan also claimed that 15 army personnel were killed and more than 45 were injured. He said they had recovered the bodies of four soldiers and they would be handed over to the ICRC today. The guerillas had recovered one RPG, three T 56 guns and ammunition, he said adding that three LTTE cadres were also killed in the confrontation.

The new offensive in the Wanni comes just two days after Security Forces declared they had re-captured Tiger guerrilla strongholds in Toppigala and thus cleared the area of their presence in the East.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has already declared that with the completion of the re-capture of the east, the Government would launch military offensives in the North. He said this was to weaken the LTTE. President Rajapaksa’s assertion, political observer say, meant that the Government will not engage in peace initiatives until military offensives in the north are completed.