3 SLA killed, 6 wounded in Ma'nalaa'ru skirmish - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 January 2008, 03:38 GMT]
Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and six wounded Thursday evening when Liberation Tigers counter-attacked SLA soldiers who mounted an attack on Tiger positions at Ma'nki'ndi Malai, according to the operation command of the LTTE in Ma'nalaa'ru. Meanwhile, the Tigers said they had seized weapons from the SLA in a separate clash at Ceylon Theatre area in Ma'nalaa'ru.

The skirmish at Ma'nki'ndi Malai lasted for 40 minutes till the SLA soldiers were withdrawn with their casualties, the Tigers said.

Ma'nki'ndi Malai area was renamed Janakapura by Maj.Gen. (ret) Janaka Perera after the SLA forcibly evacuated the Tamils living there. Thousands of Tamil residents were forcibly driven out of eighteen traditional villages in Ma'nalaa'ru and from the large old village of Thennamaravaadi almost overnight by the Sri Lankan army in 1984.

The Sri Lankan government settled Sinhala civilians in the abandoned Tamil villages of Ma'nalaa'ru region, renaming it in Sinhala as Weli Oya, a translation of Ma'nal Aa'ru (sand river).

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