Battles rage for MSR

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 April 2000, 08:58 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers said in its morning news broadcast today that Tiger troops on the A9 highway north of the Elephant Pass garrison repulsed an operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) yesterday to retake the sector of the road held by them now. The radio said that more than twenty SLA troops were killed in the fighting and that the Tigers had recovered weapons and equipment from the scene of the battle.

The SLA had begun the operation yesterday around 11 a.m. yesterday, according to the VoT.

Meanwhile, sources in Mirusuvil said that there was heavy fighting in Iththaavil and Iinthirapuram, two villages along the A9 between Eluthumadduval and Pallai close to which the Tigers are positioned, from about 2 a.m. in the early hours of the morning today.

The SLA made several attempts since March 29 to recapture this segment of the Main Supply Route (MSR) to the gateway garrison. Tiger troops entrenched themselves here in the first wave of their current offensive into the southern sector of the Jaffna peninsula on Monday March 27.

On Friday, March 31, the elite Airmobile Brigade and a battalion of the Ceylon Light Infantry fought a pitched battle with the Tigers in the Iththaavil sector on the A9. The fighting continued yesterday and in the early hours of the morning today sources said.

The state run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) said in its afternoon news broadcast today that the SLA has begun an operation code named 'Wali Sakara' to recapture the segment of the Main Supply Route (MSR) to the Elephant Pass garrison held by the Liberation Tigers.

Civilians who came through from the war zone said that the Liberation Tigers are still on the MSR.