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| Sri Lanka |
| Tamil Tigers claim killing 90 Sri Lankan troops |
| 2008-12-12 |
| Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers say they have killed at least 90 government soldiers while beating back an army advance towards their northern political capital, a pro-rebel website said on Thursday. Heavy fighting outside the town of Kilinochchi, the political headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), left more than 60 soldiers killed and scores wounded, Tamilnet.com quoted the rebels as saying following this week's clashes. The rebels also fought heavy battles on another front south of Kilinochchi on Wednesday, killing 29 soldiers and injuring at least 60, the website said. The LTTE did not release its own casualty figures. Sri Lanka's defence ministry, however, said that 27 guerrillas and 20 soldiers were killed in "pitched" battles in the past two days as troops kept up an offensive in Kilinochchi. Helicopter gunships carried out air raids on Wednesday and Thursday to provide cover to ground troops advancing on the southern defences of Kilinochchi, the ministry said. Survey: An opinion poll published on Wednesday shows the Sri Lankan government has overwhelming public support for its war against the Tamil Tigers, and most people believe the rebels will soon be defeated. The privately run research group TNS Lanka said close to 75 percent of people questioned said they are "firmly in favour of military action, seeing it as the only route to wipe out terrorism." More than half the respondents also believed the war --- which has been raging in varying degrees of intensity since 1972 -- will be over by the end of next year. Some 91 percent of those polled did not believe the separatist LTTE represented the minority ethnic Tamil community. The group questioned 500 people living outside the northern conflict zone between October and November. The result will be greeted by the government as an endorsement of its decision in January to pull out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the LTTE and escalate its offensive. |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #1 What is preventing the use of artillery and CAP? They shouldn't be taking casualties. |
| Posted by: Penguin 2008-12-12 02:46 |