Fighting escalates in Nagarkovil

(January 30, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Heavy fighting broke out between the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) when the former launched a fresh limited operation targeting LTTE assets on the Nagarkovil forward defense line, today (30th) dawn.

Soldiers of the army's 53rd division and 55th division moved ahead of their positions at around 12.00AM to launch a surprise attack on several LTTE bunkers on the front line. Their advance was backed by artillery fire and armored vehicles including T-55 main battle tanks (MBT). 35 bunkers in the FDL have been captured by the army. 20 bunkers out of the 35 are reported to be destroyed during battle. At least 10 LTTE cadres are confirmed to be killed and 10 SLA personnel too have been injured.

A large number of LTTE cadres who were manning defensive positions in the frontline pulled back to their second line of defense in the face of army advance. Troops are currently defusing mines and booby traps in the newly captured areas.

Meanhwiile, Sri Lanka Air Force Kfir bombers raided an LTTE operations command center in Weddukadu, South of Muhamalai few hours after the SLA advance.

(Defencenet)