Week before polls, Prabhakaran guns

The peninsula has been under the control of the army since 1996, but the fighting near Elephant Pass has raised the possibility that the LTTE may be preparing to try and wrest it back before the election in order to complete Kumaratunga’s military humiliation.

Last month, the military suffered a string of defeats at the hands of the LTTE. A statement from the London headquarters of the LTTE late Monday claimed "Elephant Pass military complex is seriously threatened" with its units "pounding" Yakachi army base on the northern side of the complex with artillery and mortar.

The statement claimed the complex had been "cut off" from land and sea supplies and "completely encircled by formidable LTTE fighting formations". Other Sri Lankan army positions on the main road leading from Elephant Pass to Jaffna town were also under attack, it claimed.

Earlier, the military said it had repulsed the concerted attack on the camp over the weekend killing over 250 Tamil Tigers. But the Jaffna army commander was quoted by the Tamil daily Uthayan on Monday saying troops had made a "tactical withdrawal" from Vettilaikerni and Kadaikadu, two strategic areas near Elephant Pass.

Independent reports said the LTTE continued to shell the Jaffna coastline on Monday. According to unofficial estimates, more than 2,500 families living in these areas are evacuating to safer places further north in the peninsula.

A defence ministry statement said one civilian was killed and eight injured on Sunday when LTTE shells hit Chavakachcheri, a crowded population centre on the Jaffna lagoon, where an army base is located.

The LTTE claimed in its statement it had destroyed the ammunition dump and artillery position at the Chavakachcheri camp killing "hundreds of soldiers", but there was no confirmation of this incident.

It accused the defence ministry of "making desperate efforts to underplay the scale and magnitude of the Tiger offensive in the Thenmarachchi region Jaffna peninsula fearing that the objective truth of the ground reality will have serious repercussions in the presidential elections."

In an earlier statement, the group said the latest attacks are part of its Operation "Unceasing Waves" that it launched last month, inflicting serious losses on the military and regaining a large amount of territory in the northern mainland.

In the bitter campaign for the December 21 presidential election, the debacle spurred opposition candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe to assert that the government of waging a pointless war.

But President Kumaratunga has accused Wickremsinghe and his United National Party (UNP) of plotting the defeat along with sections of the military and the LTTE.