After months of fighting with the Tamil Tiger rebels and losing
more than 40 soldiers, Sri Lanka troops recaptured the eastern town
of Vakarai on Friday forcing the rebels to flee the area, said the
military.
The Media Center for the National Security (MCNS) said that
since the start of this operation in November, about 45 government
soldiers were killed in action and 180 wounded.
Meanwhile, at least 331 LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam)cadres were killed and a large number of rebels were
injured.
Vakarai, 230 km northeast of here, has been the scene of fierce
long range artillery and mortar exchanges between the two sides
over the last few weeks.
The MCNS said the Army is consolidating their positions in the
town and the rebels have fled with a large number of
casualties.
"The civilians, who were so far trapped in the town, are
currently been helped out of their hiding places and taken to
refugee camps until the town is restored back to resume normal
civil life," said the MCNS in a statement.
The military said that the rebels are currently firing mortar
shells from north of Vakarai and the Army is repelling these
attacks.
The LTTE said on Friday that it "decided to pull back from its
Pannichchankerni position which is on the access route to
Vakarai."
According to the military, Vakarai is a significantly strategic
coastal strip for the sea-tiger bases.
"By strengthening in this area, the terrorists would be free to
run their smuggling of arms and narcotics into the country as well
as into the neighboring East Asian countries," said the
statement.
Since 1996, Vakarai had various problems from the LTTE. The
government troops launched a military operation in early November
of 2006.
All civilians, irrespective of age or physical ability, were
forced into labor and combat training under the occupation of the
LTTE, said the military.
?
The LTTE forcibly captured the Vakarai hospital to treat their
cadres wounded in the confrontation on Wednesday and the hospital
officials were not allowed to treat any civilians.
Some 15,000 people in Vakarai were thought to be internally
displaced by regular eruption of clashes between the two sides.
The clashes in the east is the continuation of violence which
has killed over 3,800 people since the beginning of December
2005.
(Xinhua News Agency January 20, 2007)
