COLOMBO, Nov 20 - Sri Lankan troops overran a strategically important rebel defence line Thursday north of the Tamil Tiger’s de facto state, breaking open another front in the country’s raging civil war, the military said.
While government forces pushed deep into rebel-held territory from the south in recent months, the rebels had managed to counter repeated military strikes from the northern Jaffna peninsula.
On Thursday, after three days of heavy fighting, troops broke through and captured the rebels’ first line of defense at Muhamalai, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. The rebels still maintain two other defence lines.
“They had a lot of casualties and we are going toward the second line of defence,” Nanayakkara said.
Rebel spokesmen could not be reached for comment because most communication lines with the north have been severed.
The victory was significant because it marked the first time during the recent fighting that government forces were able to pierce rebel fortifications in the area and because rebel troops fought ferociously to hold off the advancing troops.
A rebel-affiliated website reported Wednesday that Tamil Tiger fighters killed 36 soldiers during the recent fighting along the defence line.
The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent state for the country’s ethnic minority Tamils, who have suffered marginalisation by ethnic Sinhalese-controlled governments. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.
In April, Tamil Tiger fighters killed scores of troops along that front when they feinted an attack on government positions, quickly retreated and then pounded the pursuing soldiers with artillery.
The capture of the Muhamalai defence line put further pressure on the rebels, who are defending dwindling territory while trying to fight off a multi-pronged offensive from government-held territory in the south, west and north. - AP
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