Sri Lankan Govt Forces Pull Out of Newly Captured AreasSri Lankan government forces withdrew on Saturday from newly captured areas in a fresh offensive in northern Jaffna peninsula due to heavy artillery and motar fires from separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.The statement said that government troops had pulled back to their original positions in Eluthumadduval, 30 kilometers east of Jaffna city in the north of the country. Earlier, the military said they had recaptured approximately eight square kilometers of territory from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in the north. "Preparation of a new defense line would have given little advantage but would have cost more in terms of lives," the statement said. Fierce fighting between government forces and the LTTE rebels erupted in the northern Jaffna peninsula on Wednesday, only hours after the rebels called off their unilateral four-month ceasefire, and continued till Friday. The military said that three days of fighting has left 187 soldiers dead and over 800 wounded, 450 of them seriously. A total of 190 Tiger rebels were also killed and 400 wounded. The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 for a separatist Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country. The bloody war has claimed over 60,000 lives. |
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