Gateway to Elephant Pass opened

Gateway to Elephant Pass opened
Third major battle-field victory for army in a week
by Shamindra Ferdinando
The Island LK 21112008
Sri Lanka’s military offensive against LTTE terror is rapidly moving towards an end with the capture of the biggest LTTE defence complexes in the northern theatre. The 800-metre-long and eight-kilometre-wide ‘defended area’ collapsed at about 5 a.m. yesterday following a week-long assault carried out by 53 and 55 Divisions.
The two Divisions which had been conducting small scale incursions targeting LTTE positions launched the long awaited attack as the Task Force I (TF I) brought Pooneryn on the Vanni mainland under its control on November 15. Mankulam fell two days later.
Spearheaded by armoured fighting vehicles, the infantry fought its way into what Military Spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara called "well defended positions held by experienced cadres". He said that the month of November
seemed fast turning to be the worst month for the LTTE since the outbreak of major battles in August 2006.
An earth bund built across a 12-kilometre stretch of land from Kilaly to Nagarkovil via Muhamalai ahead of the ‘defended area’ had failed to thwart the ground assault. The army also brought the Mechanised Infantry into action.
The army had to advance about 500 metres to reach the LTTE line.
Heavy artillery barrages launched from army bases in the Jaffna peninsula made several hits including the destruction of at least two mortar launchers and demobilising two.
Three earlier attempts made by the 53 and 55 Divisions to overrun the LTTE-held area had ended disastrously with the army losing almost 400 officers and men and several hundred wounded. Of them, the first offensive had caused
most of the losses with the Air Mobile Brigade being the worst affected.
During heavy clashes over the past week, the Army lost about 30 officers and men in action.
With the LTTE retreating from Muhamalai, Pallai and Soranpattu would come under heavy Army pressure, the Army said.
The LTTE struggling to resist a multi-pronged ground offensive directed at its major bases on the Vanni front, would find it extremely difficult to stop the 53 and 55 Divisions, the Army said.
The TF I is stationed about ten kilometres west of Paranthan as the 57 Division, also deployed on the western flank, steps up pressure on Kilinochchi. The Task Force III (TF III) regained strategically located Mankulam, thirty kilometres north of Vavuniya along the A9 road, thereby cutting off the road. Of the four fighting formations (TF I, TF II, TF III and 57 Division) deployed on the western flank, the TF III was the only one to cross the A9 so far. The
TF III had captured the road stretch between Mankulam and Panikkankulam and a small stretch of Mankulam-Mullaitivu road had been captured.
On the Weli Oya front, east of the A9, the 59 Division is now threatening Nedunkerni.
It would be just a matter of time before the LTTE runs out of ammunition, the army said. Then the fall of strategic Elephant Pass base would be a reality. The army lost Elephant Pass in April 2000.
The LTTE, facing a severe shortage of arms and ammunition due to destruction of its overseas supply network by the navy had been forced to use improvised mortar guns known as ‘Pasilan’ and ‘Baba’ on the Jaffna front.
Meanwhile, the ICRC on Wednesday afternoon took delivery of 18 LTTE bodies at Omanthai entry/exit point. The Army said the bodies were of those who had been killed in confrontations with TF I and 57 Division on the western flank.