LTTE’s fierce backlash triggers Tamil exodus

On Wednesday, people were streaming into welfare centres and camps set up hurriedly by the government and by a Tamil political party. Those who had arrived on Tuesday returned this morning to their homes, but only to collect their belongings.

“We cannot go back because we do not know for sure whether the army has regained control of those areas. We can return only if the army can assure us that we will not be attacked again,” said Karuppannan of Ganeshapuram, one of the points at which the Tigers breached the forward defence lines to enter Vavuniya and approach Thandikulam.

Meanwhile, the army, admitting to 58 dead and nearly 100 – including 12 officers – wounded in the attack, said it had regained control of all the areas that were in the hands of the LTTE till late on Tuesday.

In a communique issued in the capital Colombo, a military spokesman said the “area has stabilised completely and the troops are engaged in clearing the vast area affected by the terrorist attack.” However, sources here said the army had moved only as far as Thandikulam where the LTTE blew up an ammunition dump and destroyed a temporary brigade headquarters set up for Operation Jaya Sekuru. There is no army presence at Nochchimottai yet as the bridge connecting it with Thandikulam, which was also destroyed by the Tigers, is yet to be repaired.

Army officials are also tight-lipped about the fate of the 53rd division which was leading Operation Jaya Sekuru.