Tigers step up Elephant Pass assault

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 1999, 12:04 GMT]
Heavy fighting close to the southern defences of the Elephant Pass base complex was reported today as the Liberation Tigers pressed on with their assault on the northern garrison.

The base complex has come under concentrated artillery and mortar barrages by units of the Liberation Tigers that have moved into the northern parts of Paranthan, close to the strategic causeway linking the Vanni mainland and the peninsula. Sources in the north said that the battle for the gateway garrison might reach a decisive stage soon.

Meanwhile, sources in LTTE controlled Aliyawalai, on the peninsula's southeastern coast, told the Tamilnet's Vadamaradchi correspondent that the political wing of the Liberation Tigers for the Jaffna district announced this afternoon that people living in Maruthankerni and Thalaiyadi should leave the area as soon as possible before Friday, Dec.24.

The Tigers captured the southern part of Maruthankerni in their recent operations into the southeastern coast of Jaffna. Thalaiyadi is a large coastal village three kilometres north of Maruthankerni.