Kilinochchi military complex overrun - Radio

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The LTTE has overrun the defences and destroyed the camps and minicamps of the Kilinochchi military base complex, said the Voice of Tigers (VoT) in its night broadcast today.

The radio said that the LTTE's attack began in the early hours of yesterday around 1.30 a.m. and that Tigers had broken through the army's heavy defences into the base and overrun the large camps and mini camps in the Kilinochchi military complex.

The Tigers took away a large quantity of military hardware and documents from the areas which they have captured in Kilinochchi thus far, said the radio.

150 Tigers have been killed in the attack on the Kilinochchi base which is still on for the second day according to the VOT which in tonight's broadcast gave the names of 24 Tigers who died in the assault, including those of four girls.

The Tigers have recovered more than fifty bodies of SLA troops killed in the attack and are recovering more said the radio. It said that the SLAF had bombed the Kilinochchi area extensively and had destroyed the Kilinochchi Central College completely.

Meanwhile, sources who came from the Vanni today said that the LTTE has requested the ICRC to take over the bodies of 54 soldiers which they have recovered from the Kilinochchi base.

They also said that the LTTE has captured the Kilinochchi area upto the Karadippokku junction which is near Paranthan to the north.

Army sources in the north said that about hundred Tigers are in the built up positions of the Kilinochchi base and that the army in Elephant Pass is awaiting the arrival of the elite Special Forces commandos of the 53 division tomorrow to fight their way back to Kilinochchi.