Sri Lanka news columns

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...