Troops move into Kilinochchi

Infantry formations of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA)’s 57 and 58 divisions have entered Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)’s celebrated political capital; Kilinochchi. As we reported earlier, pitched battles have been raging across the town’s western, southern and south western borders since the 23rd this month. By the 27th, troops had made inroads into the town by breaching the earth bund spreading from western to the southern borders of Kilinochchi, despite heavy LTTE resistance and bad weather conditions. Since then small groups of SLA commandos and intelligence units have been operating inside Kilinochchi town.

LTTE did attempt to prevent SLA from entering the town and also to regain lost areas several times. However, infantry units of the 57 and 58 divisions with the support of Commandos have been able to hold them off in almost all their attempts so far. Obviously, there have been casualties for both parties but we do not have the exact casualty figures with us right now.

The army has not officially declared the capture of Kilinochchi yet. Perhaps they are waiting till every last inch of the town is searched and declared safe and any LTTE resistance lingering in the area is hunted down. They may even be considering the possibility of an LTTE counterattack from the direction of Iranamadu jungles. Currently, search and defensive ops are continuing.