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LTTE losing control of Madu area, says Army Chief

JAFFNA: Sri Lanka’s Army Chief has claimed that the shifting of of the statue of Our Lady by priests of the Madu Church under LTTE pressure, was an indication that the Tigers had lost control of the area.

Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka told the state-owned Daily News: “They [the priests] took away the statue as they were under LTTE pressure.”

According to the him, the statue was taken to Vellankulam, some 20 km north of Mannar, by the priests on Thursday evening under LTTE pressure. The Defense Ministry said that hardcore LTTE cadres were dominating the church after the priests had vacated it.

Lt. Gen. Fonseka said that though ground troops had surrounded the Madhu church, they did not even return the mortar fire directed at them by LTTE men since they did not want to damage the church.

Army troops were now operating very close to the Madhu church. “We will make sure that Madhu will soon be under the security forces’ control without any damage to the church,” Lt. Gen. Fonseka said.

Separately, Jaffna Commander Lt. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri told visiting journalists that stepped-up operations by the forces had weakened the Tigers. “For several weeks now, Jaffna has not witnessed any major incident.”

He maintained that about 40,000 security forces drawn from all the three services along with 2,000 police personnel were currently deployed in Jaffna peninsula to counter the Tigers’ threat.

Lt. Gen. Chandrasiri said that the closure of the A 9 highway since August 2006 had caused a great deal of inconvenience to the six lakh-odd citizens of the region but added that the government was doing all it could to address their problems.

The pro-LTTE TamilNet in a report claimed that as the Landmine Danger Awareness Week was being observed in the Jaffna peninsula, large parts of the district remained infested with landmines due to the Sri Lankan Army’s “refusal” to permit demining activities in the High Security Zones (HSZ) and other areas.

The Jaffna Commander claimed that demining was proceeding as per schedule and till date 58 per cent of the area in the peninsula had been cleared of mines.

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