Seven SLA soldiers killed

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Seven Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and twenty were wounded when the Liberation Tigers fired heavy artillery on Operation Jayasikurui's forward defences at Olumadu last night said army sources in Vavuniya today.

Olumadu is about four kilometers from Mankulam. This is the first attack on the SLA by the Liberation Tigers this year.

The LTTE shelling comes immediately in the wake of reports that the government is planning to launch the final phase of the operation in the second week of this month.

The Operation 'Jaya Sikirui', launched on 13 May 1997 with the stated aim of opening a supply route to the SLA's Jaffna garrison in the north, is the longest military operation in a civil war in the South Asian region.

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