Two pronged SLA offensive attempt thwarted in Vavuniyaa - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 April 2008, 14:57 GMT]
At least 9 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and more than 13 SLA soldiers wounded when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) confronted the SLA on two fronts at Paalamoaddai in Vavuniya - Mannaar border Sunday. Heavy fighting raged from 8:30 a.m. till 5:40 p.m. until the SLA troops were withdrawn, according to LTTE's Operations Command in Vavuniyaa. Due to heavy artillery barrage, the remaining 32 families in Koayil Kugnchukku'lam and Kungnchukku'lam have displaced from their villages.

Civilian casualties were avoided as hundreds of families had already displaced from the villages, the Tigers said.

The LTTE Operations command did not provide details on Tiger casualties.

A clearing mission, launched by the Tigers, was continuing after the fighting.

On Saturday, SLA fired at LTTE positions in Paalmoaddai with Medium Machine Guns and Rocket Propelled Grenades around 11:45 a.m. and the SLA withdrew after Tigers retaliated with mortar fire for 20 minutes, according to LTTE military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan on Saturday.