Army suffers casualties but continues offensive

by admin
Jan 23, 2009
The Sri Lankan military continued its military offensive towards Mullaitheevu in Vanni with the support of heavy aerial and artillery fire despite suffering casualties.
 
Following the withdrawal of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from Elephant Pass and then from southern parts of Jaffna peninsula including Muhamaalai, Kilaali and Naagarkovil, Sri Lankan security forces took control of the whole of A-9 and moved further east of the highway, laying siege to LTTE controlled Mullaitheevu, where over 300,000 displaced Tamils have taken refuge.
 
With seven Sri Lankan Army (SLA) offensive formations trying to breakthrough LTTE defences in Mullaitheevu, there have been fierce clashes in the past week with heavy casualties to the SLA.
 
35 SLA soldiers were killed and at least 60 wounded when LTTE defensive formations pushed back the SLA from Neththaliyaattup paalam Monday, January 19, according to LTTE sources.
 
SLA suffered similar losses few days earlier when its attempt to advance into LTTE territory was thwarted by LTTE defensive forces.
 
On Friday, January 16, 51 SLA soldiers were killed and 150 troops sustained injuries when the advance by the SLA from Tharmapuram on three fronts were repulsed by LTTE fighters in a confrontation that lasted for 14 hours from the early hours.
 
Despite suffering losses Sri Lanka is confident that it can take control of the remaining LTTE held territory in the northeast of the island and is continuing its military offensive pouring all its military might into the offensive.
 
According to Sri Lankan military sources, there are 50,000 troops belonging to seven military divisions and or task forces are deployed around Mullaitheevu.
 
Meanwhile, on Monday January 19, LTTE Sea Tigers attacked a convoy of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) off the coast of Mullaiththeevu, sinking a Super Dvora Fast Attack Craft Monday around 11:30 p.m., LTTE officials told media.

A flotilla of Sea Tigers intercepted a convoy of SLN Dvora FACs. Fierce sea battle ensued. One Super Dvora FAC was sunk by Black Sea Tigers, according to the LTTE.

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button