By IANS,
Colombo : Overnight heavy clashes between government troops and the Tamil Tigers have left at least 30 guerrillas dead in the rebel-held Mullaitivu district, the defence ministry said Friday.
It said heavy ground battles broke out north of Vavunikulam Tank, 352 km northeast of Colombo, “as troops mounted intense retaliation thwarting” a counter attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
In the process, the 30 guerrillas got killed. The dead included a deputy of the ‘Charles Anthony’ unit.
The defence ministry said that troops found 29 bodies scattered in the battlefiled.
“Pallawan, a deputy leader of the Charles Anthony band, was among the killed,” it said, citing intercepted LTTE communication.
The Charles Anthony unit of the LTTE is widely believed to be a well-trained elite assault unit of the rebel outfit.
The military said that the advancing troops gained control over the Vavunikulam Tank bund and 10 square kilometers of adjacent area, killing over 25 terrorists Thursday.