COLOMBO, SRI LANKA: The Sri Lankan armed forces said Nov., 15 that hundreds of reinforcements had broken LTTE siege at a strategic military base in the north where more than 450 troops have been killed in fighting with Tamil Tigers.

But the LTTE, in a statement from their headquarters in London, said that their forces were still in control of the army and naval base at Pooneryn on the Jaffna Peninsula, which they captured and are now trying to consolidate their hold, The Defense Secretary, Gen, Hamilton Wanasinghe, said 900 additional troops had been sent to the area for a “daredevil rescue operation” ordered by President Dingiri Banda Wijemngs. “We have now gained the upper hand,” General Wanasinghe said at news conference, adding that there was little resistance from rebels and that fighting had subsided around the site, “The Tigers are fleeing.”

At least 450 soldiers and sailors have been reported killed in fighting since rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam attacked the camp on Thursday. General Wanasinghe said 500 rebels had been killed, but their radio has put the death toll at 150, The LTTE has been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for Sri Lanka’s 2.5 million Tamils, who are Hindu and say they are discriminated against by the Sinhalese, who are Buddhist and who make up about 75% of the country’s 17 million people, More than 30,000 people have been killed in the conflict since 1983. Military analysts said the fall of Pooneryn would give the rebels unhindered access across the lagoon to the mainland from their stronghold in the peninsula_

As LTTE statement issued in London said that 450 Government troops and LTTE fighters had been killed and that fighting was still going on in mopping up operations.

“More and more LTTE fighters have been dispatched to the area to consolidate the captured complex and to prevent army reinforcements from landed to evacuate besieged soldiers,” the statement said.

It also said the rebels had captured 5 boats, 2 tanks, several heavy weapons, 50 light machine guns and 400 rifles.

General Wanasinghe said army reinforcements had crossed the Jaffna lagoon in small boats amid sporadic firing and landed in the central area of the camp under air and naval cover.

Article extracted from this publication >>  November 19, 1993