Sri Lanka news columns

By Shamindra Ferdinando Army Chief Lt. General Sarath Fonseka yesterday said that troops on the Vanni front overran an LTTE airstrip north of Vannivilankulam about seven kilometers north-west of Mankulam. He told The Island the advance was made on Monday as the LTTE retreated before 57 Division. Situated about 500 metres west of the A9 road, the airstrip was 500 metres long and about 50 metres wide. The troops were making steady progress on the multiple Vanni fronts, he said. SLAF spokesman Wing Commander Janaka Nanayakkara told The Island that this particular airstrip had been bombed a few times but not recently. The SLAF is primarily focussing on LTTE facilities on the eastern part of the Vanni although quite a number of targets had been taken west of the A9 in support of the 57 Division and Task Force I and Task Force II. The Army Chief said that his troops were operating in the Kokkuvil area and were in the process of consolidating their positions. He said that the 59 Division on t...

Major victory for Navy’s new Boat Squadrons off Nachchikuda: Ranil WIJAYAPALA and Rafik JALALDEEN Confronted a flotilla of Tiger boats destroying 10 of them and damaging four others after a fierce battle that continued for three to four hours yesterday. Navy Spokesman Commander D.K.P. Dassanayaka told the Daily News that Navy boats detected this Tiger boat movement when a fleet of small boats of the SBS and the RABS were patrolling the north east of Nachchikuda. “The sea battle began around 11.30 a.m. yesterday and continued for over three hours till 3.00 p.m with the Navy destroying three of their large attack craft and seven small boats. The LTTE Sea Tiger cadres fled with four other damaged boats,” the Spokesman added. “When the Navy small attack craft observed and approached the cluster of suspected boats, they opened fire at the Navy boats. The sailors successfully retaliated the Sea Tigers intensifying fire and destroying...

At least three LTTE attack craft and seven small boats were destroyed and nearly 30 Tiger cadres killed yesterday during a three-hour sea battle between the Navy and the Sea Tigers off Nachchikuda in the North Western coast, the Navy said. A Navy spokesman said at around 11 am, the Navy’s newly formed Rapid Action Boat Squadron (RABS) and Special Boats Squadron (SBS) launched an attack on a fleet of Sea Tiger boats which came from Nachchikuda towards the western sea. “The RABS and SBS surrounded the Sea Tiger boats and destroyed at least seven of them, killing between 25 and 30 Sea Tigers onboard,” the spokesman said adding that “this was one of the major achievements of the newly formed RABS and SBS.” Two sailors suffered injuries during the battle, he said. “The damage to the Navy was minimal because we used new military tactics,” the spokesman said. According to the spokesman four more Sear Tiger boats were also damaged in the attack according to intercepted Tiger communication. Mea...