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LTTE overruns Nedunkari, army suffers heavy losses

P Mohan Das in Colombo

The LTTE reportedly overran Nedunkeri, the second strategic town to be taken from the control of the army in the north after the capture of Oddusudan on Tuesday, causing heavy casualties on both sides in two days of war.

In addition to security forces losses on ground in terms of land, men and military hardware, the air force lost a helicopter gunship when it was hit by enemy forces between Oddusudan and Nedunkerni. The pilot managed to land in an army-held area.

Military spokesman Sunil Tenekoon when contacted could not comment as he had not received any reports on the incident.

Unconfirmed reports said more than one thousand army and navy personnel were killed or were missing in action in the two-day battle. It is reported that hundreds of Tigers, most of them women cadres, had broken through the army forward defence lines at Oddusudan.

The LTTE attacked the army base from the southern and western sides before taking control of the town and its surrounding areas.

An LTTE statement said that the Sri Lankan army had suffered more than 1000 casualties. It also said that the Tigers overran another military complex at Nedunkerni yesterday, after taking control of Oddusudan. Nedunkerni is situated on the Pulliyankulam-Mullaitivu highway and its surroundings areas have already been brought under control of the LTTE.

''The LTTE has secured a huge cache of arms and ammunition from several arsenals in the Nedunkerni and Oddusudan sector. A large number of military vehicles, including armoured personnel carriers, were captured by the LTTE from the Sri Lankan army,'' the statement said.

The attack on Oddusudan, the last military outpost on the eastern side of northern Wanni region that was captured by army in December last, could be the army's worst setback.

UNI

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