By IANS,
Colombo : Advancing government troops Wednesday captured fresh territories held by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka’s north following a week of heavy fighting, the authorities said.
Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the troops took total control of Kalvilan, about three kilometress southwest of Thunukkai, which borders the western front of the LTTE strongholds in Mullaitivu district.
“With the fall of Kalvilan, the LTTE’s next vital stronghold in the region, Thunukkai, will become untenable for the Tigers to operate in the future,” Brig. Nanayakkara told IANS.
According to reports, Thunukkai is one of the LTTE’s well-fortified villages and is considered strategically important in view of the ongoing military onslaught.
Claiming that the troops were now “consolidating their newly established positions”, Nanayakkara said the advancing military formations had to wade through LTTE landmine fields amid Tiger artillery barrages.
There was no immediate reaction from the LTTE regarding the military’s claim.
Meanwhile, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) claimed Wednesday that 15 LTTE guerrillas and two soldiers were killed and over 30 wounded in sporadic clashes throughout Tuesday in the north.
Over 5,000 people have been killed in violence linked to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka since December 2005.