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Sri Lankan Troops Kill 250 Rebels in Jaffna
Amidst fierce fighting in the northern Jaffna peninsula, Sri Lankan government troops claimed they had killed more than 250 Tamil Tiger rebels and wounded a similar number since last Wednesday, the English daily The Island said Monday.
"The security forces put up a gallant fight while preventing the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) from developing a front at Ariyalai," military spokesman Brigadier Palitha Fernando told the paper.
He said troops also destroyed rebel targets in Tanankilappu and Pooneryn areas near the strategic town of Jaffna.
The LTTE rebels, fighting a 17-year war for a separate state for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east, recently launched a fierce attack on the government forces in a bid to recapture their former stronghold in the Jaffna peninsula which they lost in May 1996.
Fernando said the rebels were desperate and were calling for reinforcements from the east following the heavy losses they had suffered during the past week.
He added that the LTTE, in an effort to bolster its forces, had conscripted nearly 150 students last week despite protests from their parents.
Being in a stronger position than they were a few months back, the LTTE rebels had called for a cease-fire and resumption of peace talks which the government flatly rejected.
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