Lankan troops kill 250 LTTE rebels

The final phase of Ranagosa Operation IV which started on Saturday morning to capture a strategic location on the Mannar-Jaffna land route from LTTE8217;s control has claimed that lives of at least 16 soldiers. At present there is no land route to Jaffna.

The release said the operation was carried out successfully with the joint effort of ground forces, armour, artillery and the air force.

The military press release said the air force detected a LTTE 122 artillery gun being towed withanother escort vehicle. The artillery, with close coordination by KFIR ground attack aircraft of the air force, attacked destroying the enemy gun, escort vehicle and the Tigers accompanying the gun.

According to information, eleven senior LTTE cadres who had been directing artillery fire on the security forces are among the leaders killed in the attack.

Troops have also recovered 50 t 56 weapons, one .50 calibre heavy machine, one 12.7 mm heavy machine gun, one 81mm mortar launcher, one 40mm grenade launcher, one RCL gun, three RPG weapons, five communication radio sets, nine anti-tank mines and 83 anti-personnel mines.