SLA patrol ambushed

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 November 1998, 08:33 GMT]
Five soldiers were killed and three seriously wounded when the Liberation Tigers ambushed a Sri Lankan Army (SLA) foot patrol in Pachchanoor, about 28 kilometers south of Trincomalee and seven kilometers south of Mutur, this morning around 7.30 a.m. Four SLA troops have been reported missing following the attack said Sri Lankan Police sources in Trincomalee.

Reinforcements were rushed to the spot from the SLA detachment at Palaththoppur junction, four kilometers south of Mutur.

SLA sources claimed that at two Tigers were killed in the counter attack of the reinforcements which recovered the seriously wounded and the soldiers killed in the ambush. This could not be confirmed independently.

Pachchanoor is a Tamil village on the highway from Mutur to Batticaloa along the eastern coast.

The road is now closed to the public as the Liberation Tigers control most of its southern segment between Kiliveddi and Vakarai which is in the Batticaloa district.

Travelers on this road have to cross the Verugal river which forms the border between the Trincomalee and the Batticaloa districts. In former times the crossing was by ferry.

Later the Indian army laid a pontoon bridge to enhance its logistical system in the east.

This was blown up during an SLA operation into this region. Civilians rely on a precarious canoe service across the river now.