|
Banished
|
Srilankan army suffers record losses
Quote:
Sri Lanka peace talks in doubt as military suffers record losses
by Amal Jayasinghe 1 hour, 8 minutes ago
COLOMBO (AFP) - Planned Sri Lankan peace talks have been thrown into doubt after the government said Tamil Tiger rebels killed at least 129 soldiers, the most in one battle since a truce was agreed in 2002.
ADVERTISEMENT
Among the dead were 74 soldiers the government said were captured and then killed, "violating all norms and regulations of human rights and Geneva conventions".
The military said at least 515 more soldiers were wounded in Wednesday's fighting, which followed a push into rebel territory in the northern peninsula of Jaffna.
More than 200 rebels were killed, the defence ministry said in a statement. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rejected the tally and said they lost only 10 fighters.
Government forces attacked again on Thursday, using war planes to bomb rebel camps and artillery positions.
"Air Force Kfir jets Thursday morning, without taking any further chances, pounded several terrorist targets in Palai area, south of Muhamalai (army defences)," the ministry said in a statement.
It said on Wednesday, 55 soldiers were killed in heavy clashes along the Jaffna peninsula's de facto front line after a pre-emptive strike on a guerrilla build-up.
Later, guerrillas returned the bodies of 74 soldiers belonging to an infantry company attacked in rebel territory to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The bodies were taken to the military in three trucks, an ICRC official said.
"We have received 74 bodies of Sri Lankan soldiers and they are being transported in three trucks to be handed over to the military," the official said.
The government said four members of the company were still missing along with an unspecified number of other soldiers.
It added the guerrillas had set off a powerful Claymore mine in the government-held territory of Jaffna on Thursday, killing two constables and three civilians.
Government defence officials privately admitted the military, which had enjoyed successes recently, had paid dearly for its failed offensive.
"There is no doubt that the army suffered a bloody nose," said a top defence source, who asked not to be named. "It was a big mistake. There should have been better planning."
The heavy fighting came only hours after Norway's top peace broker, Erik Solheim, had announced a deal between the two sides to resume negotiations in Switzerland later this month.
Retired air force chief Harry Goonetileke said the fighting had dimmed prospects of a resumption of talks.
"I would say that the army fell victim to its own propaganda," Goonetileke said, referring to upbeat media reports of heavy rebel losses in recent months and official claims that the Tigers were on the run.
"With this latest fighting we are getting further away from talks," Goonetileke said.
Before the fighting erupted Wednesday, envoys from Norway and Japan were expected to visit Sri Lanka at the weekend to nudge the warring parties towards negotiations.
The United States, a key backer of Sri Lanka's faltering peace bid, said it was "deeply concerned that ongoing violence in Sri Lanka is putting the agreement (to resume talks) at risk."
Defence analyst Namal Perera of the Ravaya weekly said the military had clearly underestimated the Tigers' strength and had been outmanoeuvred.
"The army walked into a Tiger trap," Perera said. "They got the army to move into an open area, boxed them in and brought down artillery. The Tigers have proved that their fighting capability is intact."
Norway has been working to restore the 2002 ceasefire and end spiralling violence which has claimed over 2,200 lives since December, according to an official tally. Some 60,000 people have been killed in the three-decades-old conflict.
|
Quote:
By Simon Gardner 1 hour, 52 minutes ago
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on Thursday handed over the bodies of 74 soldiers killed in a battle a day earlier to the Red Cross, taking the army's death toll in one of the worst clashes since a 2002 truce to at least 129.
ADVERTISEMENT
Nearly 300 soldiers were wounded in the fighting on Wednesday around the besieged government-held enclave of Jaffna in the far north. The violence is spurring fears that peace talks scheduled for the end of the month may be canceled.
On Thursday, a suspected rebel roadside bomb attack in Jaffna killed five people. Artillery duels continued to rage in the area. Residents heard fighter jets fly toward Tiger territory and explosions in the distance.
"We have handed over the dead. We have also recovered a large amount of weapons, including 98 semiautomatic rifles and a light anti-tank weapon," said Tiger military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan.
"This is very good. As usual, we will take these weapons and use them against the military to fight for the freedom of our homeland."
The military had already recovered the bodies of 55 troops killed during Wednesday's battle. A huge total of 283 soldiers were wounded. It accused the Tigers of capturing soldiers and murdering them in cold blood.
The military believes it killed around 200 Tiger rebels. The rebels say 22 of their fighters died.
Red Cross officials were taking the 74 corpses to the southern border crossing between government and Tiger territory, where they were to be handed over to the military.
The Tigers and the military accuse each other of provoking Wednesday's fighting, which political analysts and the international community fear could derail the upcoming talks, scheduled to be held in Geneva.
Mediator Norway said its special peace envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, would visit Sri Lanka next week, his second visit in a month, while the island's chief financial donor, Japan, was due to send its own envoy, Yasushi Akashi.
The fighting, some of the worst since the truce, came after the Tigers warned that any further military incursions could prompt a full-blown return to a war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983, including hundreds since the ceasefire.
The latest rash of fighting alarmed Washington.
"The United States welcomes the agreement between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to return to talks ... but is deeply concerned that ongoing violence in Sri Lanka is putting the agreement at risk," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement in Washington.
"We call on both sides to cease hostilities immediately and foster an environment that is conducive to holding productive discussions in Geneva," he added.
|
Srilankan army bungled up big time this time too. till the bodies were handed over to the red cross by the LTTE the Sl government was claiming that only 30 soldiers died. now the toll stands at 130ish..and many assume that the real number is twice that. around 400 are wounded, 200 of them in critical condition. The srilankan army lost 4 tanks, 3 seriously damaged while another was totally destroyed.the rebels had 22 casulaties
this srilankan army venture into the LTTE area came after a warning by the ltte that the sl army was planning an oaffensive into their area. i guess the ltte did more than just protesting about the fortcoming battle but also did prepare well(as they always do) as evident from the Army casulty figures
WARNIG:Grusome pics in this news article
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=19883
when will the sl army learn that they cant win this war?.they must be pretty dense in their heads. and of course the srilankan politicians have all their kids abroad, hence they worry little about the death off the poor young men who go join the army cos of poverty. i have met many srilankan army personal and they all look so naive and imature compared to their LTTE counterparts. the training for a front like srilankan army soldier is only 18 weeks!!!!
but then again,yesterdays attack was spearheaded by the srilankan armies slite 53r regiment(trianed by the us rangers and stuff) and they bungle up magnificantly. as they did before..with about 600-700 out of action the regiment is practicaly decimated
From BBC
Quote:
Sri Lanka clashes kill 129 troops
A Sri Lankan Army soldier rides atop an armoured personnel carrier
Clashes between Sri Lankan forces and Tamil Tigers have multiplied
At least 129 Sri Lankan army soldiers were killed in fierce fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels on Wednesday close to the northern city of Jaffna.
The army said it had collected 55 bodies, while Tamil Tiger rebels handed over 74 more to the Red Cross.
The toll is the worst the army has suffered in one day since a 2002 ceasefire called a temporary halt to the country's 23-year civil war.
Fighting between the two sides has increased markedly over the past year.
Army spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe told BBC News that 283 soldiers had also been injured in fighting that lasted from dawn to dusk on Wednesday.
One soldier was captured by the rebels, Brig Samarasinghe said.
Later a spokesman for the Red Cross, Sukumar Rockwood, told the BBC Sinhala service that they had handed over 74 bodies received in Kilinochchi from the Tamil Tigers to the army.
Disputed figures
The army said that it had killed 200 rebels, although the Tamil Tigers only confirmed losing 22 fighters from their side.
Independent confirmation of rebel casualties is impossible to obtain and both sides in the conflict routinely magnify or minimise casualty figures to their benefit.
map
The fighting has been close to a strategic causeway linking Jaffna to the mainland.
The city is controlled by the government, but sits in the midst of rebel territory at the northern tip of the island.
Ethirajan Anbarasan of the BBC's Tamil Service says that the Sri Lankan army's apparent attempts to gain more territory seem to have backfired.
He adds that the intensity of the clashes and the high casualty figures indicate the difficulties, after more than 20 years of civil war, of achieving a military solution to the conflict.
Bloody nose
A senior Sri Lankan military source described the clash as a setback.
"There is no doubt that the army suffered a bloody nose," the anonymous source told AFP news agency.
"It was a big mistake. There should have been better planning."
The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra says that talks between the two sides planned for later this month are now hanging in the balance.
On Tuesday, Norway's ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar, told the BBC that the rebels had confirmed they were ready to meet the government on 28 and 29 October in Switzerland.
Tamil Tiger rebels
The rebels want an independent homeland
However, he said the Tigers had told him they could reconsider their decision if the situation on the ground deteriorated.
The US state department said it was "deeply concerned" that the violence was harming hopes of peace talks.
"We call on both sides to cease hostilities immediately and foster an environment that is conducive to holding productive discussions in Geneva," spokesman Sean McCormack said in a statement.
Sri Lankan government spokesman Anura Priya Yapa said that talks would be going ahead despite the latest bloodshed.
"There is no change of plans on the talks and the decision (to attend) remains," he told Reuters.
Continuing clashes
The clashes on Wednesday lasted up to 12 hours, with residents in the town of Jaffna saying they could hear the noise of heavy artillery in the distance.
An army statement said that air force jets pounded rebel positions on Thursday morning, while rebels continued to shell the army's front line.
Both sides maintain they are acting defensively, our correspondent says, and have retained the right to do so despite agreeing to resume discussions.
The conflict has claimed more than 2,000 lives since it flared again last December, and before the 2002 ceasefire more than 60,000 people were killed in two decades of civil war.
The Tamil Tigers are fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east of the country, and claim that ethnic Tamils have suffered decades of discrimination at the hands of Sri Lanka's Sinhalese majority.
|
|