More Than 50 LTTE Cadres Killed

(April 23, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Jaffna theatre of battle heated up since early this morning (April 23), as Sri Lanka army 55 and 53 divisions put- on stiff resistance to an LTTE embarked fresh offensives at the Army forwards defences on the Muhamalai and Kilaly frontiers. According to the defence sources in Jaffna heavy fighting broke out between troops and LTTE since 2 am this morning, as troops mounted retaliatory attacks at the offensive LTTE formations.

According to latest information LTTE suffered severe beating and were pushed some 500m back from its initial positions. Seizing the opportunity SLA broke the LTTE's first line of defence in the Muhamalai front, and are now engaged in consolidating the defence lines, security sources said.
So far, 15 soldiers have laid their lives while 74 suffered injuries and some of them have been air lifted to Colombo national hospital. Meanwhile, monitored radio communications and ground sources have confirmed that 52 LTTE terrorists have been killed and many injured in the latest skirmishes in Jaffna, Military Spokesperson Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Meanwhile, A T-55 Main Battle Tank (MBT) of the army was damaged beyond repair when it was hit by hostile fire near the LTTE forward defence line (FDL) yesterday morning around 9.30. The crew of four sustained injuries in the incident but were rescued by the army and are now being treated for their injuries. The LTTE is known to have deployed a considerable number of troops from its Victor anti armor brigade in fear of army's newly raised Mechanized Infantry Brigade.

The Sri Lankan army operates over 65 T-55 and T-55AM2 Main Battle tanks acquired largely from Czechoslovakia, along with other armored vehicles in their war against the LTTE.
- Sri Lanka Guardian