2ND LEAD

Tigers strike inside Mannaar HSZ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2008, 03:27 GMT]
The city of Mannaar was shaken Monday night by outgoing artillery barrage when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) mounted an attack inside the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone in Thirukkeatheesvaram area, adjacent to SLA garrison in Tha'l'laadi, breaking the Forward Defence Line (FDL). 15 wounded SLA soldiers were rushed to the public hospital in Mannaar in the early hours of Tuesday and later transferred to Anuradhapura. Telephone links were disturbed and tension prevailed in the city as fighting raged from Monday 10:50 p.m. till 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday. The warring parties are yet to release details of the latest confrontation inside the HSZ.

The SLA deployed soldiers around Mannaar hospital where the wounded soldiers were warded. The soldiers were admitted around 1:30 a.m.

Tension prevailed in Mannaar city where residents, after many years, heard intense exchange of gunfire within a distance of 5 km as crow flies.

Tha'l'laadi garrison of the SLA is located 4 km southwest of Thirukkeatheesvaram.

The SLA continued with artillery attacks into LTTE territory in the morning.