Colombo to avoid reporting casualty figures on Vanni fighting

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2008, 22:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Friday continued in its attempt to advance further into southern Ki'linochchi facing stiff resistance from the Tigers, according to the officials of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in Vanni. Fighting intensified as SLA attempted to advance towards Naachchikkudaa on Friday, they said adding that the SLA has suffered heavy casualties. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Defence Ministry officials said they have suspended reporting casualty figures of their side in the offensive that has been stepped up in Vanni.

While the Tigers have not been issuing battle-specific casualty details of their side on a daily basis, they were maintaining reliable periodic updates of their casualties through their Secretariat for War Heroes, which issues periodic updates. In the contrary, the Sri Lankan government officials were providing conflicting reports of both daily and monthly updates, which has come under criticism by the media and the opponents of the ruling UPFA.

Meanwhile, informed military sources in Colombo said that the sections of the military viewed the practice as counter-productive since the soldiers in the battlefied have been discouraged by the political censorship on their sacrifices.