NorthEast prepares to celebrate Heroes Week

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2002, 13:43 GMT]
Preparations are underway throughout Northeast to mark Heroes week celebrations between 25th and 27th November during which Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) venerates its fighters who sacrificed their lives for the liberation of Tamil people.

The main event in Batticaloa is to be held in Tharavai Heroes Memorial Grounds as Batticaloa gears up to celebrate the event in an unprecedented scale. Memorial grounds in Thararvai, Kandalady, Thandiyadi, Aandankulam and Karadyan Aru are being renovated to mark the occasion.

Tamil Eelam Maveerar Committee said that a total of 17,648 fighters, including 241 black tigers, 13,882 men and 3766 men sacrificed their lives during the twenty year period from 27.11.1982 to 30.9.2002:

Figures for different districts

• Jaffna - 6487
• Batticloa - 4535
• Vanni - 2521
• Trincomalee - 1479
• Mullaitivu - 1291
• Mannar - 1037
• Other districts - 298

Of the 241 black tigers, 78 died on the ground and 163 are sea tigers. 117 were men and 46 were women. A district based breakdown follows:

• Jaffna - 125
• Batti-Ampara - 47
• Vanni - 22
• Trincomalee - 16
• Mullaitivu - 10
• Mannar - 15
• Other districts - 6