COLOMBO(PTI): Militants of Sri Lanka Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) took away military hardware cough to equip a modem brigade, including artillery armor, when they attacked the Nagathevanthurai and Pooneryn camps Nov.11, newspapers said Nov.15, quoting military officials.
The attack, the worst ever to be faced by the Lankan army from LTTE, has led to an estimated 1000 killed on both sides, government owned “Daily News” has said. Of the 1800 troops in the two camps at the time of the LTTE attack, 700 soldiers were reported missing, 400 of them feared trapped in the thick forests in the area, about 350 soldiers wounded and 750 soldiers in the camp have now joined the inducted troops.
The military is still not in a position to give an exact account of the death toll in the Pooneryn attack but newspapers quoting the Clandestine radio of LTTE said the militants had acknowledged deaths of 400 of its cadres.
The “Daily News” quoted a senior military officer saying that the LTTE was now in possession of hardware to equip a modem brigade. This, he said, would pose a threat to any future operations as the militants were now equipped to hamper air operations.
Newspapers also quoted military officials as saying that the LTTE had withdrawn completely from the Pooneryn area and that the army was now engaged in rushing the wounded to hospitals.
Article extracted from this publication >> November 19, 1993
