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Troops close in on Elephant Pass

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan military on Saturday claimed that the fall of the strategically important Elephant Pass town, situated at the entrance of the Jaffna peninsula, was imminent.

A statement from the Defence Ministry said troops of the Army Task Force 1(TF 1) were marching into the town. Hours after the capture of Kilinochchi on Friday, Sri Lanka Army chief Sarath Fonseka said the Elephant Pass was just two km beyond the TF 1 forward boundary.

The military has released photographs of several buildings in Kilinochchi from where various wings of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam functioned. The diplomatic community is familiar with the topography of the town as it was there that the rebels received foreign dignitaries.

The Ministry said troops advancing on multiple fronts towards the LTTE’s coastal garrison at Mullaithivu have killed over two dozen rebels and injured an equal number.

“Pitched battles have erupted in the general area north of Kumalamunai, with combined air and ground assaults at concentrated terrorist positions and artillery launching pads. The recent manoeuvre warfare tactics of the security forces at the Wanni battlefront has left the LTTE in total disarray,” the Ministry said.

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) claimed to have made successive air assaults on identified LTTE positions in support of the advancing 59 Division troops at Mullaithivu.

Separately, in the heart of the national capital three persons were hurt in a minor bomb explosion.

In a report posted on its web site the LTTE alleged that widespread artillery shelling by the Army in the Murasumoddai in Mullaithivu district killed two civilians and injured 12.

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