Heavy fighting near Elephant Pass

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 1999, 12:08 GMT]
Heavy fighting erupted Sunday evening in the Elephant Pass area as the Liberation Tigers stepped up their attacks on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forward defence lines, north of Iyakkachchi SLA base said sources in Jaffna.

The Liberation Tigers are said to be pounding the SLA positions with artillery and mortars, the sources said.

SLA sources in Jaffna, however, claimed that the troops have repulsed the attacks.

Sources in Jaffna said shells hit the villages of Navatkuli, Kaithady south, Maravalpulavu, Kovilkandy and Ariyaalai east, Columbuththurai south, suburbs of Jaffna town.

Several houses in the Navatkuli housing scheme were damaged in the shelling last night the sources said.

It was not clear whether the shells were fired by the LTTE or the SLA, the sources added. Civilians in these villages have moved to safer areas, the sources said.