Sri Lanka troops retake Tiger territory in night offensive

Sri Lanka troops retake Tiger territory in night offensive
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

JAN 23: Government forces launched a lightning night offensive against Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Sri Lanka today and recaptured territory lost to the separatists earlier, the Defence Ministry said.

Troops mounted the latest operation under the cover of darkness and took the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas by complete surprise, the Ministry said in a statement.

It said security forces recaptured an area of eight square kilometres lost to the LTTE in November last year. The ministry said there were no casualties among government troops and there were no details of rebel losses. "The surprise achieved was such that the terrorists would not use their heavy concentration of mortars and artillery as they were unaware of security forces' positions until consolidation had progressed to a great extent," the statement said.

It said army units engaged small groups of Tiger guerrillas but there were no immediate details of rebel casualties.

Security forces also took a 2.5 km stretch of the A-9 highway in the area and now controlled the strategically important high ground in the area, the Ministry said.

The sudden military action came as a unilateral one-month truce declared by the LTTE was set to end while the government continued to urge Britain to ban the separatist group, officials said.

The ceasefire declared by the LTTE was set to expire on Thursday and the rebels had said an extension would depend on the government's willingness to reciprocate.

Defence Ministry spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said the military did not take the rebel truce seriously and accused the separatists of violating their own ceasefire in more than 50 instances in the past month.

"We did not drop our guard at all (during that time), "Karunaratne said. "They may try their luck again after the 24th. They have been attacking us in the past month."