COLOMBO (PTI) The Sri Lankan army Thursday said it had cleared the area between the eastern coastal beach-head at Vettilaikerni and the Elephant Pass in Jaffna peninsula killing an estimated 350 LTTE cadres in a ten day operation.

A spokesman of the joint operations command the coordinating body of the three services however would not commit if the military would hold the area which was cleared by it a year ago during the Elephant Pass operation.

At the moment we are there. I cannot say if the army will hold the area. It is the decision 10 be taken by the commanders” the spokesman said. The army lost 36 soldiers in the operation code named” Balawegaya-Ji” (Force).

He said the army was conducting the operations with very limited resources. It was holding the cleared area at the moment but things might change depending on the tactical situation he said the military says it has effectively sealed all land-routes used by the Tamil militants to cross Jaffna peninsula to the mainland.

Meanwhile a spokesman of the Sri Lanka air force denied that the Y-8 aircraft which crashed in the LTTE held areas in the Jaffna peninsula on Sunday evening was on a bombing mission.

Replying to a barrage of questions on the crash which killed all the 19 on board he spokesman said the transport a is craft had flown around 1000 hours and was five years old. It was carrying rations ammunition and some barrels of fuel to the northern army base at Palali he said.

The spokesman said going by the practice followed by the air force and the last message received from the pilot the aircraft was flying at an attitude of around 6000 feet

(The army has ruled out the LTTE shooting down the aircraft saying it was out of reach for antiaircraft weapons The Tamil militants however claim that they shot down the aircraft)

The spokesman also denied that the aircraft exploded mid-air and crashed. As per the limited evidence available the tail of the aircraft separated and it nosedived and exploded after crashing he said

The LTTE has informed the Red Cross that it found only “half a body” near the crash site which was cremated.

Article extracted from this publication >> July 24, 1992