The Sri Lankan military authorities on Friday January 2 said their forces have occupied the town of Kilinochchi in Vanni, situated 320 km north of Colombo.
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has entered a virtual ghost town as the whole civilian infrastructure as well as the centre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) had shifted further northeast.
It is the first time after a decade the Sri Lankan forces have been able to take control of the town after several months of fierce fighting that has claimed the lives hundreds of SLA troopers.
Meanwhile, source close to the LTTE told TamilNet that the Tigers, who had put up heavy resistance so far, had kept their casualties as low as possible in the defensive fighting.
Meanwhile, source close to the LTTE told TamilNet that the Tigers, who had put up heavy resistance so far, had kept their casualties as low as possible in the defensive fighting.
Most of the buildings in the town were partly damaged or completely destroyed by continuous air strikes and artillery barrage by the Sri Lankan forces.
The LTTE had also taken away a lot of the fittings and records held in the town, journalists who were taken to the town on a government-escorted trip reported.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in a televised address over the state run TV Friday at 4.15 p.m., officially claimed that the SLA had captured Kilinochchi town.
Meanwhile, the main opposition leader claimed that the Ceasefire Agreement paved the way for the military success.
Ranil Wickremesinghe said the ceasefire paved the way for many countries including the United States to provide arms to the security forces.
“The security forces successfully carried out operations with the weapons which were brought down after signing the ceasefire agreement,” he said.
The lowered resistance by the LTTE was evidence that the organization had not used the ceasefire period to bring in arms, he said.
Changing Hands
12 years ago, the SLA captured the Kilinochchi-Paranthan area from the Tigers after fighting for more than a month in 1996 after losing more than 600 soldiers.
The LTTE recaptured part of the town in February 1998. A few months later, in September 1998, the LTTE overran the Brigade Headquarters with 15 satellite camps guarded by a 15 km long defence line virtually destroying the whole establishment in a two-day long major operation code named 'Oayaatha Alaikal-2' (Unceasing Waves-2).
The SLA garrison in Paranthan was compromised and the Tigers destroyed a large ammunition dump within the Elephant Pass base at that time. LTTE recovered more than one thousand dead bodies of the SLA in Unceasing Waves-2 operation.
In the operation code named 'Oyaatha Alaikal-2' (Unceasing Waves-2) the LTTE brought the Kilinochchi region under their full control last evening.
At the time, the leader of the main Sri Lankan opposition party, Ranil Wickremasinghe announced in parliament that over 1900 SLA troops had been killed and 2000 wounded when the Liberation Tigers overran the Kilinochchi SLA base complex.
Wickremasinghe said that 1250 SLA troops had been killed and over 2000 wounded between September 27 when the Tiger assault began and 29, and that by September 30, when the fighting had eased, over 1900 SLA troops had died.
The Kilinochchi base had been manned by 3,500 SLA troops under a Brigadier, he said.
The UNP leader also listed some of the weapons and vehicles that he said the SLA had lost at Kilinochchi, though it was not clear if these referred to items destroyed or captured by the Tigers.
The weapons included 4 artillery pieces, 2 T-55 tanks, 8 Buffel troop carriers, and 75 assorted jeeps, trucks and tractors.
The SLA had also lost approximately 2,500 small arms, over 2 million rounds of small arms ammunition and over 1,000 artillery rounds.
On September 30, 1998, the Liberation Tigers handed over the bodies of 600 soldiers killed when they overran the SLA's Kilinochchi base complex to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The Kilinochchi base had been manned by 3,500 SLA troops under a Brigadier, he said.
The UNP leader also listed some of the weapons and vehicles that he said the SLA had lost at Kilinochchi, though it was not clear if these referred to items destroyed or captured by the Tigers.
The weapons included 4 artillery pieces, 2 T-55 tanks, 8 Buffel troop carriers, and 75 assorted jeeps, trucks and tractors.
The SLA had also lost approximately 2,500 small arms, over 2 million rounds of small arms ammunition and over 1,000 artillery rounds.
On September 30, 1998, the Liberation Tigers handed over the bodies of 600 soldiers killed when they overran the SLA's Kilinochchi base complex to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
