Sri Lanka’s military killed at least 66 Tamil Tiger insurgents during a siege of the rebel capital and in air and ground assaults along the northern battlefront, the military said on Saturday.
Two soldiers were also killed in Friday’s fighting, some of the heaviest since the military three months ago stepped up an advance into an area held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the north of the Indian Ocean island country.
Most of Friday’s fighting centred around the LTTE’s headquarters town of Kilinochchi, a symbolic and strategic target for the military about 330km north of the capital, Colombo.
”Troops killed 52 LTTE terrorists in heavy battles in Kilinochchi on Friday,” a military spokesperson said on customary condition of anonymity. Four rebels and 21 soldiers were wounded in the clashes, the spokesperson said.
In other battles along the curving frontline stretching from coast to coast, the military said 14 guerrillas and two soldiers were killed, while 36 rebels and eight soldiers were wounded.
On Saturday, the air force said jets blasted a training camp for female ”Black Tigers”, elite insurgents chosen for suicide missions. They gave no details of casualties.
The rebels could not immediately be reached for comment.
Getting a clear picture of death tolls in the war is difficult, since the military bars nearly all journalists from the battle zone and both sides have for years been engaged in a heavy propaganda duel. — Reuters