Shell kills SLA officer

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
One Sri Lankan officer was killed and four other soldiers were wounded when the Liberation Tigers directed mortar fire on the SLA positions near Olumadu, 3 km east of Mankulam, today.

SLA sources in Vavuniya said that the dead officer was a lieutenant.

The army said that they have captured one km in the direction towards Mankulam when they advanced form their positions in Karuppattamurippu, 4 km east of Mankulam, yesterday.

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in press communiqué this evening that there was a close quarter battle with the Liberation Tigers yesterday, when the army advanced towards Mankulam from Olumadu.

In the fighting, according to the MoD communiqué, 7 soldiers were killed and 16 have gone missing.

Meanwhile, the Liberation Tigers said in press release today that 16 bodies of Sri Lankan soldiers it recovered from the battle zone in Vanni were handed over to the ICRC this morning.