By IRNA,
New Delhi : At least 52 LTTE militants were killed in pitched battles with the Sri Lankan security forces which overran rebel forward defence lines in the Jaffna peninsula and captured a Tamil Tigers’ airstrip in nearby Kilinochchi.
“Smashing the conventional notion that the Tigers’ Forward Defence Lines in Muhamale and Kilaly cannot be challenged, troops in Jaffna on Thursday overran the first LTTE Forward Defence Line in the strategic bottleneck and the lagoon to the north and south of the Jaffna-Kandy Highway killing over fifty militants,” PTI reported quoting Sri Lankan army sources.
With the breaching of the Tigers’ Jaffna defence line, Sri Lankan forces have now mounted a two-pronged fresh offensive on the Tiger headquarters of Kilinochchi from the south and the north.
The Lankan troops have apparently been bogged down on the outskirts of Kilinochchi from the South and are now making a fresh bid to capture the strategic town from two sides.
Elaborating on the week-long pitched battles leading to the breach of the Jaffna defence line, a military spokesman said: “The fire fighting resulted in the loss of over 50 LTTE militants besides injuries to several others.”
Casualties caused to the Sri Lankan troops were comparatively very low in the fighting that lasted for a few days continuously, he claimed.