Tigers attack SLA at Kokkuthoduvaai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 August 2001, 06:32 GMT]
Thirteen Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and 24 wounded when the Liberation Tigers attacked forward defence lines of the Kokkuthoduvaai camp south of Mullaithivu, in the north-eastern coast, around 3 a.m Thursday. Ten SLA soldiers have been reported 'missing' in the attack, army sources said. Six LTTE members were killed in the fighting, the sources added.

The Tigers simultaneously shelled Janaka Pura Army camp in the near by Manal Aaru (Weli Oya) region, the sources said.

The Liberation Tigers used tanks and mortars in the predawn attacks on the SLA camps at Janakapura and Kokkuthoduwaai, military spokesman Brigadier Sarath Karunaratne said.He admitted two SLA bunkers at Kokkuthoduwaai were in the control of LTTE for about one hour.

Meanwhile the Liberation Tigers attacked the jetties at Gurunagar and Colombagam in Jaffna town, around 3 a.m. Thursday, Police in the northern town said.

A large number of LTTE members participated in the attack, said Jaffna's Senior Superintendent of Police W.Kudahetty. The police recovered the bodies of two LTTE members killed in this fighting, he said.

Further details of the fighting were not known. The Tigers have not yet commented on the fighting.