• Military Menu                       

• Introduction
• Systems
• Facilities
• Agencies
• Industry
• Operations
• Countries
• Hot Documents
• News
• Reports
• Policy
• Budget
• Congress
• Links

• WMD
• Intelligence
• Homeland Security
• Space

44 Sri Lankan troops killed in fierce fighting with LTTE

IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency

New Delhi, Oct 12, IRNA
S Lanka-LTTE-Fierce fighting
At least 44 Sri Lankan troops lost their lives and over 400 were injured in a major battle with the Tamil Tigers in the northern Jaffna peninsula Wednesday, which also saw 10 rebels killed.

According to reports reaching here, the fighting lasted about five hours and government troops halted an advance into the rebel -held part of the peninsula because of the high level of resistance put up by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Military sources said at least 38 soldiers and six officers were killed and another 400 wounded, 115 of them critically. The Tigers claimed they had killed around 75 armymen and removed the bodies of 20 soldiers.

The pro-rebel website said the Tigers had resisted the military offensive and damaged at least three tanks, completely destroying one.

"A soldier was captured alive by the Tigers," LTTE military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan told the website. He said a total of 10 Tigers were killed in the fighting.

The military admitted they had halted the offensive after encountering heavy resistance.

"Troops are consolidating their positions after fierce gunbattles that lasted for over five hours. Intermittent fighting however still rages on," a military source said.

The Sri Lankan Defence Ministry said "troops were compelled to launch those defensive measures as a result of the increased bout of LTTE violence against members of the security forces, disrupting the regular opening of the A-9 highway."

"Ground troops confirmed that a large number of terrorist dead bodies were also found scattered around their forward defence lines," it said in a statement which did not mention rebel casualties.

2160/2321/1414