At least 12 soldiers and 23 civilians were killed and 106 others wounded on Monday when Sri Lankan troops mounted a fresh offensive against Tamil Tigers in the embattled northeast to offset any attack by the rebels on a strategic naval facility.
COLOMBO: At least 12 soldiers and 23 civilians were killed and 106 others wounded on Monday when Sri Lankan troops mounted a fresh offensive against Tamil Tigers in the embattled northeast to offset any attack by the rebels on a strategic naval facility.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said 20 civilians were killed and 26 wounded in the fighting, but did not say if they had suffered any casualties.
Security forces fired artillery and mortar bombs towards Sampur, a town on the southern tip of the Koddiyar Bay in Trincomalee, which the rebels were using to hit the strategic Trincomalee naval facility.
Local military officials said 11 soldiers were killed while 79 were admitted to three hospitals in the restive area.
Helicopters were pressed in to service to evacuate the soldiers who suffered mostly shrapnel wounds.
The naval facility was the starting point for cargo and troops travelling to the northern peninsula of Jaffna.
"The objective is to neutralise the heavy tiger artillery pieces located at Sampur," an official said.
The rebels have shelled the Trincomlee Port, the main naval base for troops in the embattled northeast and the starting point for troops and cargo headed for the northern Jaffna peninsula.
In another incident today, three civilians were killed in a mine attack that was probably meant for troops, local military officials in Trincomalee said.
A soldier was also shot dead and another wounded elsewhere in the island's northern town of Vavuniya as troops mounted the anti-Tiger drive in Trincomalee.
The Indian Oil Company too maintains a large storage facility in the China Bay area of Trincomalee which was also under rebel mortar attacks earlier this month.
However, the IOC facility was not hit, but a nearby flour million factory was hit by Tiger artillery.
The latest long-range attacks come a day after the International Committee of the Red Cross ferried 161 foreign nationals to Trincomalee from the Jaffna peninsula.
The foreigners were stranded due to the fighting between troops and Tigers there since August 11.
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