Maanda Maaverar kanavu Palikkum
Malcolm Ranks
: Maaanda Maaveerar Kanavu Palikkum, Mahilchi kadalil thamil mann
: thilaikkum.
: The dreams of the dead martyrs shall come true.
: In joy and happiness shall the Tamil land flourish.
: Maaanda Maaveerar kanavu poykaathu.
: Engal thalivan kuri endrum thappaathu.
: [INLINE] [INLINE]
: Full story
: FOCUS-Hundreds killed or wounded in S.Lanka clashe
: 04:31 a.m. Dec 05, 1997 Eastern
: By Rahul Sharma
: COLOMBO, Dec 5 (Reuters) - Hundreds of soldiers and separatist rebels
: were killed or wounded in fresh battles in northern Sri Lanka ending a
: lull of several weeks, military and relief officials said on Friday.
: ``We don't have the details but casualties on both sides are high,'' a
: Defence Ministry spokesman said, referring to Thursday's clashes.
: The International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters that the
: Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels handed over 111 bodies
: of Sri Lankan soldiers killed in Thursday's fighting.
: ``They have handed over 111 bodies of soldiers in the Wanni to the
: ICRC and they will be transported to (the front-line
: government-controlled town of) Vavuniya by this evening,'' the
: spokesman said.
: The ICRC report raises the military's death toll in the latest
: fighting to at least 141, one of its biggest losses in the six-month
: campaign to capture a strategic highway in the northern mainland
: jungle area known as the Wanni.
: Military officials earlier said that 30 bodies had already been
: brought to Vavuniya.
: A Defence Ministry statement said troops on Thursday confronted a
: large number of guerrillas close to Mankulam, which lies on the
: highway linking Vavuniya and Kilinochchi.
: Government troops have been trying to capture the highway which would
: give the military road access to the former rebel stronghold of the
: Jaffna peninsula.
: Currently all men and material are transported to Jaffna by air or
: sea.
: ``Troops overcame heavy enemy resistance causing heavy casualties
: among them. Terrorists continued to engage troops with mortars and
: artillery. Troops retaliated with artillery and mortars,'' the
: ministry statement said.
: It did not say where exactly in the Wanni the battles took place, but
: military officials in the north earlier said fighting erupted after
: government troops surrounded a key rebel camp.
: The clashes follow a lull of several weeks during which, according to
: military officials, troop movements were hampered by bad weather.
: At least 200 soldiers were wounded in the fighting, military officials
: in Vavuniya said. The ministry statement said the wounded had been
: evacuated to hospitals in central Anuradhapura town, the site of a
: large military base.
: The statement said that rebel casualties were believed to be high, but
: it did not give a figure. It said details would be released later.
: The clandestine Voice of Tiger radio, monitored in Vavuniya, said on
: Friday that heavy fighting had taken place in the Wanni on Thursday
: but it did not give details.
: More than 740 soldiers and 2,500 rebels have been killed and 1,400
: soldiers and 3,000 guerrillas wounded in the latest campaign, launched
: in May, the military estimates.
: The LTTE, whom the government blames for an explosion in the capital
: Colombo in October which killed 18 people and wounded more than 100,
: are fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri
: Lanka's north and east.
: The government says more than 50,000 people have been killed in the
: war that began in 1983. The LTTE put the toll higher. REUTERS
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