Sri Lankan forced to retreat

Press, 19 February 1987, Page 8

Sri Lankan forced to retreat

NZPA-Reuter Jaffia In their most intensive campaign against Tamil have wrested control of sax atra * points, guerrilla sources said. Balasubratnaniam Can agaratnam, deputy commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (L.T.T.E.) in Jaffna, told Reuters that his group had lost control of the main roads in three Northern Province towns, and had withdrawn into the adjoining jungle. Brigadier Gerry De Silva, co-ordinating officer of security forces on the Jaffna peninsula, said the 10-day offensive Involving 5000 troops resulted in 45 rebels being killed and 35 taken prisoner. “The results of the offensive are that the L.T.T.E. are on the run, disorganised, discredited, and short of supplies,” he said.

•Up to 50 civilians and 11 Tamil guerrillas were killed when a powerful bomb that had been intended to blow up a Sri Lankan Army camp exploded prematurely in a Jaffna village last weekend, rebels and residents told Reuters, yesterday. The bomb, estimated by military officials to have weighed at least 150 kg, damaged concrete houses within a 100 m radius on Saturday at Kaithady village.

It was the highest death toll the L.T.T.E. has suffered in a single incident and is regarded a considerable setback as three of the group’s senior officers were among those killed.