Conflicting reports on Ampakamam fighting

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 1999, 21:26 GMT]
An attempt by the Sri Lanka Army to advance in the Ampakamam area yesterday has been beaten back, said sources close to the LTTE in London this evening.

They said the LTTE fighters inflicted heavy casualties to the government troops and added details of casualties were not available.

The Tigers attacked the troops with heavy artillery, the sources said.

They said 28 LTTE members died in the fighting which went on till the evening.

A statement issued this afternoon by the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence (MoD) said that 42 Liberation Tigers were killed in the fighting in the Ampakamam area yesterday.

The statement said the troops have recovered 27 bodies of the Liberation Tigers along with arms and ammunition.

According to the MoD, five SLA soldiers were killed and 35 wounded in the fighting.

The statement further said 7 Liberation Tigers were killed when the SLA troops attacked LTTE's forward defence lines in the Oddusuddan areas.

Reports of the fighting could not be independently verified as the Sri Lankan government has banned reporters from entering the warzone.

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