Heavy fighting that has raged in Jaffna since August 11 subsided this week allowing an aid ship to travel to the embattled peninsula, but sporadic artillery exchanges continued, reports said.
Hundreds of combatants have been killed in two weeks of intense artillery exchanges and heavy ground fighting. The air and sea supply lines to Jaffna, which had been cut by LTTE shelling, hesitantly opened this week.
Shortages have been rising fast for the roughly half a million people on the army-held peninsula. Some people are eating only one meal a day. A Red Cross-flagged aid ship, carrying food and essential supplies left Colombo on Tuesday evening and will only arrive on Thursday.
The LTTE given security guarantees both for the aid ship and for a smaller ferry that will begin evacuating expatriates from Jaffna with foreign residency or nationality, as well as some aid workers.
The Sri Lanka Air Force has resumed limited flights into the Palaly airbase which had been struck almost daily by LTTE artillery. Civilian flights however remain suspended.
The fighting in Jaffna broke out when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) began a major offensive at 5.30 on August 11 towards LTTE-held Elephant Pass area, the Tigers said. The Sri Lankan government however blamed the LTTE for starting the fighting.
The LTTE said its forces, throwing back an SLA ground advance , overran the SLA defence lines at Muhamali and then advanced into the High Security Zone. The SLA says it pushed the LTTE back to the front defence lines (FDLs).
There are conflicting casualty reports, but the fighting has made it all but impossible to independently verify tolls.
The Sri Lankan government claimed this week to have killed almost 500 Tigers, but the LTTE says it lost only 88 fighters. Colombo-based diplomats believe LTTE losses are likely to be higher, but say the Army routinely exaggerates its claimed kills.
The Army says it lost 159 soldiers, but defence officials in Colombo told reporters the bodies of 400 soldiers have been brought to the south.
The majority of the casualties have been borne by the SLA’s elite 53 Division. The US-trained Division has now been pulled back for a while to either shelter it from fruther losses or to refresh the division, TamilNet reported.
Several hundred civilians are also feared to have died and more than 160,000 people have fled their homes since the confrontations began on July 21 when the SLA launched a major offensive against the LTTE in Trincomalee.
While both sides say they want peace, diplomats believe both probably still have military objectives they want to achieve. The unarmed Nordic ceasefire monitoring mission has withdrawn most of its staff to the capital, although some remain stuck on Jaffna.
“It is a little more quiet but there is still a lot of shelling,” said outgoing chief truce monitor former Swedish Major General Ulf Henricsson. “I can''t see any military gains on either side... I think there has been too much unnecessary killing and rather big losses on both sides.”
Some diplomats and analysts say the fighting could drag on despite international pressure as the government and Tigers seek the military upper hand before entering peace talks.
“Neither side has got a bloody nose yet to encourage them to talks,” one diplomatic source close to the Norwegian-backed peace process told AFP. “Both will try to see how far they can go (militarily) before agreeing to talks.”
“I don''t think the military has really been able to make that much of a dent on the LTTE''s military capability,” said Nanda Godage, a defence analyst and a former Sri Lankan diplomat.
Godage said the LTTE''s war machinery appeared to be intact despite the heavy losses the military says it inflicted.
Namal Perera, the defence columnist for the Ravaya weekly, said that despite a lull in the fighting this week, the potential for a flare-up was high.
“It looks like the LTTE has still not used their elite units,” Perera said. “They could be kept in reserve for a bigger push.”
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse told diplomats in Colombo Monday that his government was ready to resume peace talks which the Tigers put on hold in April 2003 - provided the Tigers halted their attacks (see page 1).
“What the president says is that we have not started a war and we want to talk and have a negotiated settlement,” government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. “But we will not compromise national security.”
Responding to President Mahinda Rajapakse’s call for the LTTE to declare its commitment to the ceasefire, the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said that it was the Colombo government which launched a major military offensive in Trincomalee and thereby triggered defensive measures by the Tigers.
“The Norwegian facilitators and the SLMM monitors are witness to the fact that Colombo deliberately chose to launch an offensive in Maavil Aru despite the civil dispute being resolved peacefully,” Mr. Thamilchelvan said.
The Sri Lankan military said its offensive on July 21 in Maavil Aru was to open a sluice gate that had been closed in LTTE-controlled areas, blocking water to villages in government-controlled areas of the district.
The SLA offensive triggered an LTTE counter-offensive in Muttur, close to Trincomalee’s main harbour. The fighting and Sri Lankan shelling of LTTE areas displaced tens of thousands.
However, when Nowegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Baur negotiated an end to the water dispute and international monitoring chief Ulf Henricsson went to open the gate, SLA artillery fired dozens of shells at his party.
The LTTE charges the water dispute was an excuse for Sri Lanka to launch a major offensive against its forces in Muttur east and Sampur in Trincomalee.
“The Sri Lankan military has a long-term hidden agenda which underpinned its decision to launch a large-scale offensive with massive firepower into our territory in Muthur East,” Mr. Thamilchelvan charged.
“This was evidenced in repeated airstrikes on the region for some considerable time, even before the water dispute emerged,” he added.
“Furthermore, although the Sri Lankan government claimed the purpose of the offensive was to restor ethe flow of water, the Sri Lankan military continued its offensive even after the gates were opened,” he said.
“These actions clearly proved that Colombo had wider objectives behind its military offensive.”
“And when the Sri Lankan military escalated their offensive from their Trincomalee naval base, we were forced respond towards that their launchpads for artillery fire and troop movement towards the frontline,” Mr. Thamilchelvan said.
Thamilchelvan also accused Colombo of escalating its military offensive and attacking the LTTE in the Batticaloa and Jaffna districts.
“In Jaffna, heavy weapons and troop movements were observed in Eluthumadduval, Kilali, Nagarkovil and Muhamali areas throughout the day on August 11. The movement of civilian traffic was restricted to assist the Sri Lankan military buildup.”
“Finally, at 5:40 p.m. that day, the Sri Lanka Army launched a major offensive towards our area across the Northern defence lines, in another major breach of the ceasefire.”
“However, our fighting forces, well aware of the impending Sri Lankan offensive, were prepared to face the confrontation and defeated it,” LTTE political head said.
Hundreds of combatants have been killed in two weeks of intense artillery exchanges and heavy ground fighting. The air and sea supply lines to Jaffna, which had been cut by LTTE shelling, hesitantly opened this week.
Shortages have been rising fast for the roughly half a million people on the army-held peninsula. Some people are eating only one meal a day. A Red Cross-flagged aid ship, carrying food and essential supplies left Colombo on Tuesday evening and will only arrive on Thursday.
The LTTE given security guarantees both for the aid ship and for a smaller ferry that will begin evacuating expatriates from Jaffna with foreign residency or nationality, as well as some aid workers.
The Sri Lanka Air Force has resumed limited flights into the Palaly airbase which had been struck almost daily by LTTE artillery. Civilian flights however remain suspended.
The fighting in Jaffna broke out when the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) began a major offensive at 5.30 on August 11 towards LTTE-held Elephant Pass area, the Tigers said. The Sri Lankan government however blamed the LTTE for starting the fighting.
The LTTE said its forces, throwing back an SLA ground advance , overran the SLA defence lines at Muhamali and then advanced into the High Security Zone. The SLA says it pushed the LTTE back to the front defence lines (FDLs).
There are conflicting casualty reports, but the fighting has made it all but impossible to independently verify tolls.
The Sri Lankan government claimed this week to have killed almost 500 Tigers, but the LTTE says it lost only 88 fighters. Colombo-based diplomats believe LTTE losses are likely to be higher, but say the Army routinely exaggerates its claimed kills.
The Army says it lost 159 soldiers, but defence officials in Colombo told reporters the bodies of 400 soldiers have been brought to the south.
The majority of the casualties have been borne by the SLA’s elite 53 Division. The US-trained Division has now been pulled back for a while to either shelter it from fruther losses or to refresh the division, TamilNet reported.
Several hundred civilians are also feared to have died and more than 160,000 people have fled their homes since the confrontations began on July 21 when the SLA launched a major offensive against the LTTE in Trincomalee.
While both sides say they want peace, diplomats believe both probably still have military objectives they want to achieve. The unarmed Nordic ceasefire monitoring mission has withdrawn most of its staff to the capital, although some remain stuck on Jaffna.
“It is a little more quiet but there is still a lot of shelling,” said outgoing chief truce monitor former Swedish Major General Ulf Henricsson. “I can''t see any military gains on either side... I think there has been too much unnecessary killing and rather big losses on both sides.”
Some diplomats and analysts say the fighting could drag on despite international pressure as the government and Tigers seek the military upper hand before entering peace talks.
“Neither side has got a bloody nose yet to encourage them to talks,” one diplomatic source close to the Norwegian-backed peace process told AFP. “Both will try to see how far they can go (militarily) before agreeing to talks.”
“I don''t think the military has really been able to make that much of a dent on the LTTE''s military capability,” said Nanda Godage, a defence analyst and a former Sri Lankan diplomat.
Godage said the LTTE''s war machinery appeared to be intact despite the heavy losses the military says it inflicted.
Namal Perera, the defence columnist for the Ravaya weekly, said that despite a lull in the fighting this week, the potential for a flare-up was high.
“It looks like the LTTE has still not used their elite units,” Perera said. “They could be kept in reserve for a bigger push.”
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse told diplomats in Colombo Monday that his government was ready to resume peace talks which the Tigers put on hold in April 2003 - provided the Tigers halted their attacks (see page 1).
“What the president says is that we have not started a war and we want to talk and have a negotiated settlement,” government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said. “But we will not compromise national security.”
Responding to President Mahinda Rajapakse’s call for the LTTE to declare its commitment to the ceasefire, the head of the LTTE’s Political Wing, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said that it was the Colombo government which launched a major military offensive in Trincomalee and thereby triggered defensive measures by the Tigers.
“The Norwegian facilitators and the SLMM monitors are witness to the fact that Colombo deliberately chose to launch an offensive in Maavil Aru despite the civil dispute being resolved peacefully,” Mr. Thamilchelvan said.
The Sri Lankan military said its offensive on July 21 in Maavil Aru was to open a sluice gate that had been closed in LTTE-controlled areas, blocking water to villages in government-controlled areas of the district.
The SLA offensive triggered an LTTE counter-offensive in Muttur, close to Trincomalee’s main harbour. The fighting and Sri Lankan shelling of LTTE areas displaced tens of thousands.
However, when Nowegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Baur negotiated an end to the water dispute and international monitoring chief Ulf Henricsson went to open the gate, SLA artillery fired dozens of shells at his party.
The LTTE charges the water dispute was an excuse for Sri Lanka to launch a major offensive against its forces in Muttur east and Sampur in Trincomalee.
“The Sri Lankan military has a long-term hidden agenda which underpinned its decision to launch a large-scale offensive with massive firepower into our territory in Muthur East,” Mr. Thamilchelvan charged.
“This was evidenced in repeated airstrikes on the region for some considerable time, even before the water dispute emerged,” he added.
“Furthermore, although the Sri Lankan government claimed the purpose of the offensive was to restor ethe flow of water, the Sri Lankan military continued its offensive even after the gates were opened,” he said.
“These actions clearly proved that Colombo had wider objectives behind its military offensive.”
“And when the Sri Lankan military escalated their offensive from their Trincomalee naval base, we were forced respond towards that their launchpads for artillery fire and troop movement towards the frontline,” Mr. Thamilchelvan said.
Thamilchelvan also accused Colombo of escalating its military offensive and attacking the LTTE in the Batticaloa and Jaffna districts.
“In Jaffna, heavy weapons and troop movements were observed in Eluthumadduval, Kilali, Nagarkovil and Muhamali areas throughout the day on August 11. The movement of civilian traffic was restricted to assist the Sri Lankan military buildup.”
“Finally, at 5:40 p.m. that day, the Sri Lanka Army launched a major offensive towards our area across the Northern defence lines, in another major breach of the ceasefire.”
“However, our fighting forces, well aware of the impending Sri Lankan offensive, were prepared to face the confrontation and defeated it,” LTTE political head said.
