CLOMBO, Feb. 7, Reuter: Sri Lankan soldiers launch end a major twin assault in Jaffna, their second offensive within a month in the separatist stronghold, and killed at least four rebels in a

17hour battle that raged until early morning.

A government spokesman told Reuters that the troops demolished 15 concrete bunkers and some mortar sites around the main military camp in Jaffna Fort in combat that dragged on until four hours before dawn.

structed’a few months ago to block one of the main roads between the town and the 300yearold Dutch built fort where troops have mostly been holed up since mid1985.

The government’s media center said there was “some resistance” at the start but that it was soon overcome. “A large number of terrorist casualties, the number not estimated yet, was observed”, it said, adding that there were no casualties on the government side,

The government spokesman “The forces also destroyed their Berlin wall, took out the bulldozers and filled up anti-vehicle ditches, dugouts and foxholes”, he said. The brick wall, near a market and cluster of shops, was cons aid that unlike a January 7 operation which resulted in army occupation of the clinic and telecommunications building 1,000 meters from Jaffna Fort, helicopter gunships and fighter bomber planes were not used.

Article extracted from this publication >>  February 13, 1987