Sri Lanka says military regains lost ground

October 21, 2000
Web posted at: 4:33 PM HKT (0833 GMT)

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Reuters) -- Sri Lankan military officials said Saturday that government troops won back ground lost in this week's round of battles with Tamil Tiger rebels in the country's northern Jaffna peninsula.

"We have recaptured three bunker positions and have cleared the area where the fighting developed," military spokesman Brig. Sanath Karunaratne told Reuters in Colombo.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, launched a fierce attack on Thursday near the key town of Nagar Kovil, which forms part of the peninsula's southernmost government army defenses.

The surprise rebel attack, approximately 320 kilometers (200 miles) north of the capital, forced the army to pull back some of its defenses around the town by about half a kilometer.

Karunaratne said 13 soldiers had been killed in Friday's battles to regain the lost territory.

Four soldiers and 20 rebels were killed in Thursday's fierce fighting which also saw the navy thwart a beach landing by the LTTE's naval wing.

"Over 80 rebels are believed to have been killed in the ground fighting while 15 guerrillas died in the naval battle," Karunaratne added.

There was no comment from the LTTE on Friday's fighting.

The rebels earlier said more than 100 troops had been killed and 300 injured in Thursday's attack.

Independent verification of events is not possible because journalists are not allowed into the war zone except on military guided tours.

The attack on Nagar Kovil ends a relative period of quiet on the peninsula which earlier saw about 800 troops and rebels killed during a month-long parliamentary election campaign as the two warring sides jostled for territory.

The LTTE are fighting for a separate Tamil state in the north and east since 1983. Over 61,000 people have been killed in the ethnic war.

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