Fighting in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 August 1998, 18:51 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army and the LTTE engaged in a fire fight last night at Irupalai in Jaffna said informed sources in the north this evening. They said that it was not possible to confirm the casualties on either side.

However, the SLA's Jaffna headquarters said in a press note this evening

"On 28 August around 21.30 hours in the Irupalai area Jaffna troops in ambush observed twelve LTTE moving towards them and engaged them with small arms and killed three LTTE members. The others escaped with injuries. On a subsequent search troops recovered three bodies, two T56 rifles, two hand grenades, two rifle magazines and a claymore".

Jaffna hospital sources said this evening that the Sri Lankan Police at Kopay handed over to the hospital today the bodies of three youth estimated to be in their early twenties for identification.

They said that the bodies were those of the youth killed by SLA fire in Irupalai. The bodies are yet to be identified said the sources.