Heavy fighting between rebels and government soldiers subsided in northern Sri Lanka on Thursday, a day after intense artillery battles left hundreds killed or wounded, according to officials on both sides.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they were planning to return the 30 bodies of government troops they captured after Wednesday’s battle at Muhamalai on the Jaffna peninsula.
“Clearing operations are under way,” LTTE spokesperson Rasiah Ilanthiriyan said in a statement.
He said the Tigers, who have been fighting for decades for an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils, had killed more than 100 government troops and wounded about 500.
Ilanthiriyan put LTTE losses at 16 dead.
However, the Defence Ministry said its forces killed more than 100 Tigers and reported losing 43 soldiers, with another 33 missing in action. It was the security forces’ biggest loss in a single offensive since October 2006.
Military sources said that a total of 127 soldiers were killed or missing after Wednesday’s debacle. Hospitals in and around Colombo were packed with wounded soldiers evacuated from Jaffna.
Even as the fighting subsided, security forces and Tigers traded fire elsewhere in the north of the island, the Defence Ministry said, adding that 32 Tigers had been killed in other clashes with troops on Wednesday.
Latest official Defence Ministry figures, which include Wednesday’s toll, show that 3 105 Tigers have been killed by security forces this year.
However, at the start of the year the military said there were only 3 000 Tiger rebels left.
The latest setback came despite official claims that the separatists had been virtually wiped out following almost daily clashes since the military pulled out of a Norwegian-arranged truce in January.
According to official figures, the military has lost 223 soldiers this year.
Pictures released on pro-rebel websites showed what was said to be soldiers who were killed inside a Tiger bunker line and 17 bodies of soldiers laid out on plastic sheets at an undisclosed location.
Defence sources said Wednesday’s battle was a repeat of the October 2006 fighting, when security forces were pushed back by a major Tiger counter-offensive, leaving 129 government soldiers slain and 515 wounded.
Military analysts noted that security forces had again underestimated the strength of the Tigers, who had concentrated forces in their mini-state in the north since being driven out from the multi-ethnic eastern province.
The Tigers ran the Jaffna peninsula as a de facto separate state for five years until they were driven out in October 1995. However, they took back the southern part of the peninsula in April 2000.
The LTTE have been fighting to carve out an independent homeland for Tamils since 1972. Tens of thousands have died on both sides in the conflict. — AFP