Troops reach Elephant Pass

Ranil WIJAYAPALA

*58 Division captures Elephant Pass South*

* Troops in full control of Jaffna lagoon*

*Air Force prevents LTTE building earth bund*

Security Forces yesterday reached Elephant Pass with the 58 Division troops capturing the entire southern part it and further advancing towards the North to capture it the entirely, Army Commander Lt. General Sarath Fonseka said yesterday.

According to military sources the troops of the 58 Division under the command of Brigadier Shavendra Silva have captured the area south of Elephant Pass causeway including the area in which the monument of Hasalaka Gamini who made the supreme sacrifice in defence of the Elephant Pass camp in 1991 and the southern part of the former military complex of the Army, by yesterday noon.

“They are in the process of advancing further North to take full control of the Elephant Pass area soon,” a senior military official told the Daily News.

“With the capture of Elephant Pass South the troops are now in control of the entire Jaffna lagoon.

They are in full control of the lagoon front from Pooneryn to Paranthan and Paranthan to Elephant Pass on the A-9 road,” the Brigadier added.

Heavy fighting erupted in the East of Paranthan and Elephant Pass South for the past two days as the LTTE made their maximum effort to stop the advance of the troops towards Elephant Pass and Murusamudai, East of Paranthan. According to military sources, 10 soldiers were killed and 23 others injured in the fierce battle in Elephant Pass and Murusamudai areas.

Meanwhile, MI 24 helicopter gunships of the Sri Lanka Air Force thwarted the LTTE effort to create another earth bund using their heavy earth moving equipment on Sunday whilst launching artillery attack towards the area.

The fall of Elephant Pass will mark the third biggest defeat for the LTTE within five days as they lost Paranthan and Kilinochchi within a span of 48 hours on January 1 and 2. The fall of Elephant Pass would be a heavy blow to the LTTE strategically for their operations in Muhamalai just as they lost their links to Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu with the fall of Paranthan and Elephant Pass.

“They have been left with only the coastal road from Cheminpiyanpattu to Mullaitivu which gets flooded most of the time,” he said.

The Security Forces are also rewriting the history of the Eelam war with the recapture of Elephant Pass almost nine years after the Army lost control of it on April 22, 2000.

During this debacle, a Deputy General Officer Commanding and three Brigade Commanders lost their lives whilst hundreds of soldiers died during their retreat towards Jaffna. The Security Forces also lost a cache of military hardware including artillery guns and canons.

This is the first ever victory to recorded by the 58 Division after it was established as a permanent Division by the Army Commander after the capture of Kilinochchi.