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LTTE admits fall of key town

COLOMBO: Tamil Tiger guerrillas Monday admitted losing a key town in northern Sri Lanka to advancing government forces but staged hit-and-run attacks elsewhere, killing at least eight security personnel.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said over its radio that the army took the town of Kodikamam in the Thenamacrchchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula, covering 20 kilometres (eight miles) from their original positions.

In the military offensive mounted under the cover of an indefinite curfew since Friday, at least 30 civilians were killed and 50 wounded, the LTTE's Voice of Tigers radio said.

"The army is strengthening their positions at Kodikamam and Kachchai areas," the rebel radio said. "Security forces are using tanks, armoured cars and taking people captive."

As fighting raged in the north of the country, the LTTE stepped up attacks elsewhere in the island and overran an army detachment in the north-eastern village of Morawewa, killing four soldiers on Monday, officials said.

They said another three police commandos from the elite Special Task Forces were gunned down by the Tigers at Mandur in the eastern province on Sunday. A paramilitary home guard was also killed.

The authorities had warned that the Tigers may escalate attacks in the rest of the country to avenge the fall of territory held by them in the Jaffna peninsula.

In the latest offensive code named Riviresa Two, or Sunshine Two, the defence ministry has claimed strategic gains but refrained from naming the places wrested from rebel control.

The ministry has said that two government soldiers and at least 80 rebels were killed in the fighting. Rebel resistance had been minimal, the ministry added.

The army launched a similar offensive between October and December last year to capture the Waligamam sector located on the west of the Jaffna peninsula and dismantled several civil administration structures of the rebels.

The LTTE is leading a protracted campaign for an independent homeland called Eelam in the island's northern and eastern regions since 1972. More than 50,000 people have died in the bitter homeland struggle.-APP