40 Tigers killed as Lankan military captures rebel strongholds

Security forces chase fleeing rebels into jungle hideouts

COLOMBO: At least 40 Tamil Tiger separatists were killed in clashes with government troops who routed several major rebel bases in the volatile east, the military said Sunday, amid a renewed push to break the insurgents’ hold on the district.

Army troops killed at least 18 Tamil Tigers in fighting as they tried to flee into a rebel-held jungle in eastern Batticaloa district on Sunday morning, said military spokesman Brig Prasad Samarasinghe. Separately, he said troops found the bodies of 22 rebels, victims of an army assault on Saturday on several rebel bases in Kathiraveli, another rebel-stronghold in Batticaloa.

Samarasinghe said insurgents are fleeing from government forces after the army captured Vaharai and Kathiraveli, both rebel strongholds in Batticaloa district - and the scene of heavy fighting between government troops and the rebels over the last few weeks.

“They are fleeing into pockets held by them in the jungle, specially to Thoppigala,” Samarasinghe said referring to another eastern rebel area. Security forces confronted a group of 75 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fleeing their Vakarai base on Saturday evening and killed 18 of them, the defence ministry said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from the rebels, as phone calls went unanswered.

Sri Lanka may step up its offensive against the Tamil Tigers following a string of military victories, but the rebels have retained their ability to stage deadly guerrilla attacks, analysts say.

Security forces this week captured the final rebel stronghold in the eastern district of Batticaloa after weeks of fighting that involved air, sea and land attacks.

For the first time in 11 years, the army on Saturday took control of a main road along the east coast connecting its two main towns, Batticaloa and Trincomalee.

The cities have remained under government control, but the rebels dominated the surrounding villages and jungle. Vaharai, an impoverished rebel-held coastal strip in Batticaloa, has been the scene of heavy fighting for months, with over 500 combatants killed since October, according to the military.

“Still some confrontations are taking place,” said deputy military spokesman Maj Upali Rajapakse on Sunday, adding that insurgents who fled their camps in small groups are firing at the army as commandoes hunt them down.

Troops are searching for and clearing booby traps and mines laid by fleeing insurgents in Vaharai and Kathiraveli, he said.

The government says the Tigers used Vaharai as a transit point to smuggle drugs and arms into the country and as a base for rebel naval attacks. The army’s capture of Vaharai sent thousands of terrified villagers fleeing to safety in neighbouring government-held Mankerni, where they were packed into flimsy tents and in crowded schools.

Worried Tamil parents said their children were being detained as security forces screened the refugees for suspected rebels. agencies.

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