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8 Sri Lanka soldiers killed

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: At least eight soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) including an officer, and 12 cadres of the Tamil Tigers were killed in the last 24 hours in continuing battles between the two sides in the north and the east. There was no word from the Tigers on the fighting.

The Defence Ministry said the soldiers and the officer died as the military “commenced the final leg” of their march to Thoppigala, the last LTTE stronghold in the eastern province. This has been the theatre of fierce fighting between the two sides for about two months now. The military estimates that at least 100 cadres of the LTTE are holed up in the jungles of Thoppigala. Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said that six soldiers including an officer died and seven others suffered injuries when Tigers launched an attack using long-range weapons. “The terrorists fired heavy mortars from a location west of Baron’s Cap at the troops deployed in the north of Narakamula. The security forces retaliated using heavy weapons and brought the situation under control”.

Air force jets carried out three raids targeting LTTE positions at Thoppigala and Palampiddi in Mannar on Friday.

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