Troops repel LTTE attack in Sri Lanka; 300 Tigers killed

Beginning at about 1.30 am on Sunday, waves of Tigers attacked the Elephant Pass camp, a huge military complex that begins at the neck of Jaffna peninsula and stretches 15 kms south to Killinochchi. Military official said the attackers rained mortars at the camp from the east of Paranthan, simultaneously attempting to infiltrate the complex.

Air Force jets and ground attack aircraft were sent to defend military positions while artillery units were also pressed intoaction to pound suspected rebel positions in the area, the ministry statement said.

“Troops successfully repulsed the attack,” the spokesman said, adding that the fighting, during which the army used artillery and bomber jets, lasted till first light. The abortive attack was reminiscent of a similar attempt by the Tigers to infiltrate the Weli Oya camp in central Sri Lanka in August 1995, which killed nearly 300 cadres, mostly teenaged boys and girls.

The militant group, banned by Sri Lanka last week and convicted in India for Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, may have planned the attack to grab the limelight from the 50th anniversary celebrations in the capital. Had it been successful, it would have also further bogged down Operation Jaya Sekuru, the government’s most ambitious military operation yet to secure control of a 75 km stretch of highway to link Vavuniya to Killinochchi in the Tiger-held northern mainland.

The high casualties in the Elephant Pass abortive attack will be a further blow to theTigers’ military strength which, according to the government, has already lost more than 2,000 fighters during Jaya Sekuru. Over 1,000 soldiers have been killed during the operation.

However, the attack’s failure has somewhat punctured the Tigers and restored some confidence to the government.

The attack comes only days before celebrations on Wednesday to mark the country’s 50th anniversary of independence from Britain.

The British heir to the throne Prince Charles is due in Sri Lanka on Tuesday to take part in the celebrations as the guest of honour, which are to be held amid heightened security.

Thousands of extra police and troops poured into the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Sunday before the celebrations. Events were switched from Kandy following the bombing and will now be held in Colombo.

Meanwhile, in a release from its London headquarters, the group has sought to publicise condemnations of the attack on a Hindu temple in Kandy last Sunday, but has made no mention of the LTTE bomb attack onBuddhism’s holiest shrine in Sri Lanka.