Sri Lanka news columns

Ranil WIJAYAPALA COLOMBO: Troops attached to Task Force II yesterday captured the strategic Palamoddai town six kilometres northwest of the Omanthai entry exit point in Vavuniya. Meanwhile, Troops attached to 59 Division operating in the Mullaitivu front for the first time reached the beach side of Nayaru South capturing Uluththuveli, Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told the Daily News. "With the capture of the Palamoddai town troops are further closing in towards the A-9 road neutralising the Tiger positions north of Omanthai," Brigadier Nanayakkara said. Ten Tiger cadres were killed when troops confronted with the LTTE in Palamoddai on Wednesday. One soldier also sacrificed his life. Meanwhile the troops attached to 59 Division operating in the Weli Oya front reached South of Nayaru lagoon hitting the beachfront in Nayaru South for the first time. "With the capture of this territory the beach flank in the N...

by Shamindra Ferdinando =SLAF mounts casualty evacuation ops inside enemy territory The LTTE is in the process of expanding a second runway capable of accommodating heavy aircraft in Mullaitivu as government troops backed by air, artillery and armour battle through fortified enemy defences on the western and eastern flanks. The military has irrefutable evidence that the LTTE is engaged in the construction of the air strip in spite of the unprecedented army build-up on the multiple Vanni fronts where ground forces have inflicted massive losses on the Tigers. Although fighter aircraft had targeted the runway recently, the LTTE seemed to be going ahead with the construction determinedly, a highly placed military official said. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, he asserted that the LTTE would have made use of every available heavy earth moving machine for the construction wor...