DATE=12/24/1999
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=LANKA / WAR (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-257458
BYLINE=VANDANA CHOPRA
DATELINE=COLOMBO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: In Sri Lanka, about 100 Tamil Tiger
rebels and more than ten government soldiers are
reported killed in fighting that began late
Thursday in the northern part of the country.
Vandana Chopra has the details from Colombo.
TEXT: Military officials say Tiger separatists,
using artillery and mortar fire, struck at
government forward defense lines on the eastern
side of a military base near the Jaffna
peninsula, which the military captured from the
rebels in 1995.
The clandestine Voice of Tiger radio says the
rebels fired a heavy barrage of artillery at the
Elephant Pass base camp, which links the northern
Jaffna peninsula with the rest of the country.
The fighting comes several days after an
assassination attempt on President Chandrka
Kumaratunga. The president survived, but 33
people were killed and 110 wounded. Shortly
after the assassination attempt, President
Kumaratunga was elected to a second six-year
term.
During the election campaign, Tiger guerrillas
intensified attacks on government military camps.
Last month they launched simultaneous attacks on
the areas of Pallamadu, Periyamadu, Palampiddy
and Madu and overran the military bases in these
areas.
In a matter of days government forces lost most
of the towns that the military had taken over two
years to capture. It was the biggest setback
military suffered in the 16-years of war.
Tiger guerrillas are fighting for a separate
homeland for the minority Tamil community in Sri
Lanka's North and East since 1983. More than 55-
thousand people have died in the ethnic war.
(SIGNED)
NEB/VC/KL
24-Dec-1999 10:22 AM EDT (24-Dec-1999 1522 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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