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LTTE suffered heavy casualties, says army

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Tigers driven further inwards, it says

COLOMBO: Heavy fighting broke out between the military and the LTTE along the Mannar-Vayunia Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) early on Saturday. The military, while conceding that one of its soldiers died and 12 were injured, said the Tigers suffered “heavy casualties”.

The flare up on the northern front confirms the assessment by the political and diplomatic community here that having “ousted” the Tigers from the eastern theatre, the military would now turn to the north where the LTTE controls substantial portion of territory. “High LTTE casualties and congested enemy communication pleading for immediate reinforcements and casualty evacuation were observed, as military troops whacked a fresh LTTE pre-dawn offensive in the FDLs at Tampanai, Vavuniya,” said the military.

It claimed that the LTTE “offensive lines” were driven further inwards into the non-liberated Vanni area. Implied in the statement is the suggestion that the Tigers have lost some territory in the north.

The Defence Ministry said clashes erupted as troops retaliated to an early-hour “heavy LTTE mortar attack launched from the non-liberated patches” north of Tampanai area.

The Ministry said the LTTE offensive “which had less potential” was a strategy used as a springboard by its Vanni leadership to stimulate the outfits’ morale after the loss of “Thoppigala”, in the east.

Meanwhile, the Government claimed that the four LTTE cadres who are in a Maldivian jail, caught while smuggling weapons to Sri Lanka, would be extradited to Sri Lanka soon to stand trial.

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