Five SLA soldiers killed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2000, 06:42 GMT]
Five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and four others were seriously wounded in an ambush by the Liberation Tigers at Sri Mangalapaura on Allai-Kantalai road, about 75 km. south west of Trincomalee town, around 8.30 a.m. this morning, security sources said.

The SLA troops were engaged in road clearing operation when they were attacked, the sources said.

Sources said fighting lasted for nearly 30 minutes.

Unconfirmed reports said that the Tigers had removed some weapons from the scene of the incident.

Soon after the incident, reinforcement of the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) rushed to the scene and launched a search operation.

Sri Mangalapura is one of the new Sinhala settlements under the State-aided Kantalai coloniztion scheme.