80 Sri Lankan soldiers killed in the East in past few weeks.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have stepped up attacks against Sri Lankan security forces and paramilitary groups attached to them in the Eastern province, especially in Ampaarai district, killing at least 14 in November alone and another 65 during September and October and wounding 112 in the past few weeks.

The political wing of LTTE in Ampaarai district released a statement on Friday, October 24 claiming that 65 Sri Lankan soldiers, including 45 Special Task Force members, were killed and another 98 wounded in attacks carried out by LTTE in the district in the previous 75 days.

In the latest incident, on Friday November 7, an LTTE ambush unit opened fire at a Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) road patrol, killing 4 Sri Lankan military personnel including 3 STF commandos and causing injuries to three, including two STF commandos in Ampaarai district.

The previous day, LTTE fighters clashed with the STF commandos for more than 30 minutes in Yala jungles in the border of Ampaarai district killing 3 STF troopers.

2 STF commandos sustained injuries in the clash, the Tigers said.

A day earlier, the army suffered the worst day of casualties in the East since a LTTE mine attack in September.

Ten STF commandos were killed Tuesday, November 5, night around 9:15 p.m., when the group of STF personnel were counter-ambushed by an elite commando unit of the Jayanthan brigade of the Tigers.

The counter-attack took place at Koappaaveli on Badulla Road. Two STF personnel sustained serious injuries in the attack, the Tigers said adding that there were no casualties on LTTE side, the Tigers said in a news release issued to media from Batticaloa.

Few days earlier, on Tuesday October 28, LTTE fighters in Batticaloa district attacked a key paramilitary camp of the paramilitary group TMVP in the early hours of Tuesday, killing four operatives and capturing six gunmen from the camp, located at Chengkaladi, 13 km northwest of Batticaloa city, according to the Batticaloa Command of the LTTE.

Despite the LTTE claim of their attack on the TMVP within a few hours of the raid, the Pillayan faction of the TMVP blamed Karuna operatives for the attack. The Sri Lankan Police said that the Tigers were behind the raid that killed four operatives, Pushpan, Rajan, Mani Master and Ravi.