COLOMBO: More than 85 soldiers were feared killed after the dominant militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) pounded an army camp and ignited a fuel dump inside northern Sri Lanka since Wednesday night.
The tigers also destroyed a TV relay station in the north, and, on a suicide mission, damaged a Sri Lankan naval ship in the east.
Meanwhile, government forces claimed to have killed 10 militants during the same period.
The fate of the more than 85 soldiers in the camp was not immediately known, However, a defence ministry communiqué said on Thursday evening the camp personnel “made use of this opportunity to initiate a tactical withdrawal” when militant mortars destroyed the relay station and ignited a fuel dump.
Most of the security personnel guarding the TV relay station on the Jaffna main road were killed in the attack, unconfirmed reports said, The security forces on a foot patrol killed four LTTE militants in north of Kalmunai, while home guards killed six others when the tigers attacked a bordering Sinhala village. At Kayarai in eastern Ampara on Wednesday, the communiqué said.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 20, 1990
