Liberation Tigers handed over 74 bodies of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in black body bags Thursday evening in Kilinochchi. Another soldier's body was taken to Kilinochchi Thursday evening.
"The (main) handover took place on Thursday evening at 8pm local time at Omanthai checkpoint on the A-9 road," said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which acted as intermediary.
Omanthai, 260kms north of Colombo, marks the de facto border separating government and LTTE-held territory and lies just north of Vavuniya.
More than fifty bodies of SLA soldiers are strewn around in the battlefield in unidentifiable state, according to LTTE officials.
133 SLA soldiers were killed in action or reported missing according to the official figures released by the Sri Lankan defence ministry media co-ordinating centre Thursday.
More than 200 SLA soldiers were killed when LTTE defense formations under Special Commander Col. Theepan defeated the SLA forces Wednesday, LTTE officials claimed.
The LTTE Military Spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said that LTTE had seized 16 Multi Purpose Machine Guns (MPMGs), 4 Rocket Propelled Grenade Launchers (RPGs), a Grenade Launcher, lite anti-tank weapon, 98 assualt rifles and large amounts of ammunitions from the Gemunu Watch SLA soldiers.
More than fifty bodies, severely damaged and decomposed state, were still found strewn around inside the LTTE territory and inside the no-go zone, he added.
Most of the dead troopers belonged to the Gemunu Watch regiment of the SLA.
Director of LTTE's NGO Liaison Office, Mr. Pavarasan, handed over 74 black body bags to the ICRC official Katja Lawrence at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. Identification details of more than 50 soldiers, gathered from various identity cards and papers, were provided to the media by Mr. Pavarasan.
Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Liaison Office in Kilinochchi, Lars Bleymann and Gunnar Johannsson also visited the Kilinochchi Central Playground where the bodies were packed into black bags.
Defence ministry media officials in Colombo reported 78 SLA soldiers as missing in action and 55 dead. 283 SLA soldiers were severely wounded, according to the figures issued by Colombo.
The bodies were taken to the SLA camp in Vavuniya in four vehicles.
