30 killed near Mankulam -SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 September 1998, 23:05 GMT]
Six SLA soldiers were killed and 31 were wounded in a battle with the Liberation Tigers in the last 24 hours in an area southeast of Mankulam said army spokesman Brig.Sunil Tennekon while presenting a fortnightly review of the war front in the northeast of the island this morning at the weekly Cabinet press briefing.

He told the press that during this operation troops cleared 222 anti personnel land mines from the area and that 24 Tigers were killed in the heavy fighting.

The military spokesman claimed that 23 among the soldiers wounded yesterday's battle were able to return to duty today.

He said that SLA troops had thrust out east and west to a distance of four kilometers from their positions in Kilinochchi in limited operations to destroy LTTE's positions and return to base.

Two soldiers were killed and 16 wounded in these operations and SLA troops recovered 4 T 56 rifles 12 grenades and wires the spokesman claimed.

He said that in another limited operation in the east, 8 soldiers were wounded while 5 Tigers were killed. He added that troops had recovered 8 claymore mines, 2 rolls of wire,12 LTTE uniforms and a 25 horsepower outboard motor. He did not specify the area in which the operation was conducted.

The SLA has captured 75 square kilometers in the Vaakarai region north of Batticaloa and 11 thousand civilians who had fled the area when the army moved in have since returned according to the spokesman's review of the fortnight.

He said that 1032 civilians bound for Jaffna had boarded the ship Lankan Muditha at Trincomalee and that a similar number is expected to travel on board when the ship returns from the harbour at Kaankesanthuari in Jaffna.