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Troops had "tactically" pulled back their defence line north of Elephant Pass and the Iyakachchi camp, the final bastion protecting the military base, amid a heavy volume ofmortar and artillery fire by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "Heavy fighting continues. The army has readjusted its defence lines north of Elephant Pass," army spokesman Brigadier Palitha Fernando was quoted as saying. The LTTE said on Saturday they had overrun Elephant Pass, which straddles the isthmus land route to Jaffna, after storming Iyakachchi camp. The giant Elephant Pass camp was manned by two divisions of the Sri Lankan army. Unconfirmed reports said a large number of troops were still unaccounted for. The defence ministry said in a statement late on Saturday that 49 soldiers had been killed and 383 wounded in the battle. It said ground troops had confirmed that over 150 guerrillas had been killed on Saturday. Officials of the International Committee of the Red Cross told Reuters by phone in Colombo that they had no word on casualties or on arrangements to hand over bodies. The government launched an appeal on state radio for blood donations. Both sides have suffered hundreds of casualties since the LTTE launched the latest offensive four weeks ago to capture Jaffna, the stronghold they lost in 1996. Independent verification of events is not possible as journalists are not allowed into the war zone.
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