Battle Roundup

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters continued to offer heavy resistance in the Vanni battle fronts inflicting heavy casualty to the Sri Lankan forces and stalling the advancement of troops towards Kilinochchi.

At least 161 soldiers were killed and 367 soldiers were wounded in four separate attempts by the military to breach LTTE defences in Vanni, in October alone.

In the latest attempt to break through LTTE defences south west of Kilinochchi, around Akkaraayankulam, more than 80 Sri Lankan Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 200 sustained injuries, according to informed sources in Colombo.

Sri Lanka admitted to heavy casualties but put its losses at 33 dead and 48 injured.

"During these clashes on the weekend, 33 soldiers were reported killed in action, 48 injured and three others were reported missing," a statement on the ministry's website said.

The multi-pronged Sri Lankan offensive which was launched on Saturday October 18 lasted for four days.

A similar attempt a week earlier, on Sunday October 12, resulted in more than 60 SLA soldiers being wounded.

That SLA advance was thwarted after 6 hours of heavy fighting, from 10:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., the LTTE said.

The same day, SLA soldiers attempting to enter into LTTE territory in southern Mullaiththeevu district from several points in Thannimurippu and Manalaaru with artillery and Multi-barrel Rocket Launcher fire support were also met with heavy LTTE resistance.

The SLA offensive was beaten back after 12 hour of fierce fighting with at least 19 SLA soldiers killed and more than 35 injured.

The previous week also the military suffered heavy casualties, when on Tuesday October 7, SLA attempted to advance on three fronts in southern Kilinochchi district.

26 SLA soldiers were killed in Akkaraayan - Murikandi sector, 16 in Vanni Vizhaangkulam and 20 in Vannearikkulam.

49 SLA soldiers were wounded in Akkaraayan and 23 in Vanni Vizhaangkulam. The SLA offensive units were pushed back in all three fronts.

Rain, resistance blamed

The increased resistance by LTTE, as evidenced by the high casualties suffered by SLA in recent weeks, is in sharp contrast to an earlier LTTE fallback that enabled troops to move rapidly into LTTE territory.

Encouraged by the limited resistance offered by the LTTE in previous months, Sri Lankan forces had banked on a quick fall of Kilinochchi, the LTTE's administrative capital, 330 kilometres north of Colombo.

However, the military is bogged down in the same area for the past 2 months with the LTTE digging in, army stretching to defend territory already seized, and poor weather hampering military operations.

'Troops operating in the south of Kilinochchi are making progress, though they have not shown a rapid progress within the past few days,' said defence analyst Ranil Wijayapala in the state-run Daily News.

He blamed adverse weather, with heavy rains currently lashing the north.

'With the rapid advance last month, the military is also forced to tie down a lot of soldiers to protect areas newly captured from the Tigers,' a military officer who declined to be named said.

Military sources said increased air attacks have failed to soften up Tiger defences for ground troops to smash through.

When the Sri Lankan forces reached Naachikudah in Mannaar district and Akkraayankulam in Kilinochchi district in early September, they encountered an elaborate trench line running several kilometers from Naachikudah to Akkarayankulam. Since then repeated offensives by the SLA to break through the LTTE defences have failed.

Casualties censored

Throughout this military campaign the Sri Lankan defence establishment has highly exaggerated LTTE casualties whilst down playing its own.

For the past year or so, the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Ratnasiri Wickramanayake has been providing military casualty details to the Sri Lankan parliament on a monthly basis. Figures tabled in parliament so far show 1,099 soldiers were killed in the first nine months of 2008, with September seeing the highest number of fatalities -- 200 killed and 997 wounded.

Almost 7,000 soldiers were wounded in the first nine months of the year and 396 civilians were killed, according to parliamentary records.

However, following heavy casualties the military has suffered in recent weeks, on Friday October 24, the Sri Lankan defence ministry announced its decision to censor casualty figures coming out of the northern battle fields.

The defence ministry said that it decided to “suspend the reporting of all casualty figures in relation to the ongoing counter terrorist operation in Wanni. This is in consideration of the continuing advance of the security forces there and the need for operational security, whereby such reportage may impede the successful accomplishment of the mission.”

While the Tigers have not been issuing battle-specific casualty details of their side on a daily basis, they were maintaining reliable periodic updates of their casualties through their Secretariat for War Heroes, which issues periodic updates.

In the contrary, the Sri Lankan government officials were providing conflicting reports of both daily and monthly updates, which has come under criticism by the media and the opposition parties.

Meanwhile, informed military sources in Colombo said that the sections of the military viewed the practice as counter-productive since the soldiers in the battlefied have been discouraged by the political censorship on their sacrifices.