Senior LTTE leader among 31 killed in Lanka violence

Colombo, Sept 04: Thirty-one Tamil Tigers, including a senior leader of the guerrillas, were killed in heavy fighting with security forces in the embattled northern Sri Lanka, as troops continued their push towards the rebel 'capital' of Kilinochchi, the military said Thursday.

Sri Lankan troops killed 11 Liberation Tiger of ...

A senior LTTE leader "Lt Col" Neelawannan was killed during a gun battle with security forces in Vennirikulam in the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, the government's Media Centre for National Security said.

"LTTE continue to steadily lose manpower as the Sri Lankan security forces advance further into the heart of the LTTE administrative power, Kilinochchi I. This is a major setback for the militants," a Defence Ministry statement said.

Continuing with its operations in Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres north of Colombo, the army gunned down nine LTTE rebels in Venirkulam and Akkarayankulam, it said.

According to sources, the LTTE defence in the south of Kilinochchi includes an earth bund running zigzag from Nachchikudha to Akkarayankulama along with many military trenches and bunkers.

In separate clashes, the troops killed 11 LTTE cadres in Vavuniya, Nagarkovil area in Jaffna and Muhamali, the military said.

At least 30 Sri Lankan soldiers were injured in the fighting with the rebels since yesterday, the Defence Ministry said.

Meanwhile, the pro-LTTE Tamilnet website reported that 11 government troops were killed by the LTTE on Tuesday and yesterday.

Both the government and the LTTE have been accused of regularly exaggerating enemy casualties and underreporting their own.

The website also displayed photographs of ahuge cache of arms and ammunitions which it said were captured from the Sri Lankan Army during two days of warin south and west of Kilinochchi. These included machine guns, assault rifles and 1,20,000 round of 7.62 mm bullets, it said.

The Sri Lankan troops on Tuesday captured the strategic LTTE-held town of Mallavi, which the government described as "one more decisive and impressive phase" in its campaign against the rebels.

Fighting between the two sides have increased in recent months amid the government's declaration to crush the group by the end of the year.

The LTTE has been fighting since 1983 for a separate state for the Tamil minority community in the island nation. About 70,000 people have lost their lives in the conflict so far. The government had in January pulled out of a 2002 ceasefire pact with the rebels.