Mankulam captured - Radio

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 September 1998, 06:50 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) announced in a special news buletin today that the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) has captured Mankulam today. However, the capture of Mankulam by the SLA could not be confirmed independently.

SLA sources said that the Mankulam town was captured by the army around 9 a.m. this morning. They said that the troops had blasted their way through the mud and concrete bulwark that the Liberation Tigers had built ahead of the town last evening.

More than 91 SLA soldiers in the forward units that attempted to advance towards Mankulam were killed in the heavy fighting with the Liberation Tigers that erupted yesterday said sources.

Sixty seven of these were killed in the battlefield and 14 succumbed to their injuries later at the Anuradhapura hospital. More than 174 wounded soldiers have been evacuated to this base hospital the sources added

Meanwhile, one of the main armouries of the troops fighting Operation Jayasikurui blew up yesterday at Kanakarayan Kulam, 7 kilometers south of Mankulam. The cause of the massive explosion was not known the said sources.

The SLA is yet to acknowledge that its troops are in control of the town.