Tigers ambush in Palaly zone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 1999, 18:21 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Army (SLA) declared curfew in the general area of Erlaalai following the attack by the Liberation Tigers around 1 p.m. in the afternoon yesterday. Sources in Jaffna said that five soldiers were killed and the two were wounded in the ambush.

The attackers had removed the weapons of the troops they said.

The ambush was in the high security zone close to the outer defence perimeter of the large Palaly-Kankesanthurai base complex.

The curfew was declared until 8 a.m. this morning.

A massive search operation was conducted in the area until 3 a.m.

Civilians were neither allowed to leave the area until then. Several civilians were also assaulted by angry government troops.

All traffic from outside was blocked until 3 p.m. this afternoon.

It is not yet known whether anyone in Erlaalai was arrested during the search said sources in Jaffna.

Meanwhile SLA sources said that at least 7 Liberation Tigers and a government soldier were killed in clashes in the northern Vanni region yesterday.

They said 4 Tigers were killed and 2 wounded in an ambush near Oddusuddan yesterday while 3 Tigers were killed in two seperate confrontations also yesterday in the Vanni region.

The SLA soldier was killed when the Tigers fired at troops manning the forward defence lines, north of Mankulam they added.

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