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Army Commander Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle said yesterday that the ongoing military operations in Colombothurai have helped to strengthen army's hold on Jaffna and also to expand the forward defence lines. The
Army Chief returned from Jaffna on Tuesday after security forces
successfully carried out a four-hour operation further consolidating their
positions outside the town. Almost
350 terrorists were killed in and around Colombothurai this month. In
view of the newly gained positions, troops were in a position to hinder
LTTE movements through Ariyali, a supply route freely used by the LTTE in
the past few months, he said. "The
LTTE will not have easy access to supplies," he said stressing the
army's the importance the army attaches to block off supply routes to the
peninsula from the Wanni mainland. "We
have considerably increased our hold on the town," he said expressing
confidence that ongoing ground operations sup[ported by air-strikes will
continue to improve the situation even further. About
140 soldiers including at least a dozen officers were killed in action. General
Balagalle also said that the LTTE was forced to to withdraw leaving behind
a large number of bodies of cadres killed in confrontations. "LTTE's
failure to remove bodies of cadres was a clear indication that troops had
the upper hand in the recent confrontations," he said. One
14-year-oild female LTTE cadre was captured by troops engaged in search
operations in the area, he said. The
army chief also revealed that troops engaged in clearing operations have
also managed to trap small groups of terrorists in the security forces
dominated area. Two female LTTE cadres were shot dead by troops on Monday
morning while three more terrorists were killed in Chemmani, outside
Jaffna and Chavakachcheri. General
Balagalle also said that ground troops were well supported by the air
force. He
said that ground attack aircraft and the artillery (multi-barrel rocket
launchers) carried out a series of successful strikes on enemy positions.
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