MASSIVE NEWS BLACKOUT IN SRI LANKA BY THE SINHALA MEDIA AND GOV. CENSORS.

MASSIVE NEWS BLACKOUT IN SRI LANKA BY THE SINHALA MEDIA AND GOV. CENSORS.
100 SLA killed, 250 wounded, heavy fighting in Ki'linochchi - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2008, 14:28 GMT]
More than 100 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and at least 250 SLA soldiers wounded Monday when the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) repulsed a fresh offensive push, said S. Puleedevan, the director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat, quoting LTTE's field commanders. Heavy fighting raged from 5:30 to 12:45 when the SLA attempted to advance from Uruththirapuram towards Ki'linochchi and Ira'naimadu. Several corpses of the SLA soldiers were seen in the battlefield and the Tigers were engaged in seizing arms and ammunitions after routing the offensive on two fronts, Mr. Puleedevan further said. The fighting was continuing on three fronts.

Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers were also engaged in attacking LTTE Forward Defence Line localities in Ki'linochchi.

Meanwhile sources in Puthukkuiyiruppu said the SLAF bombers were engaged in air raids along Mullaiththeeuv coastal area, attacking several localities throughout the day.

The fresh offensive push comes after the Tigers claimed that the SLA suffered 170 deaths and more than 250 wounded 6 days ago on 16 December and a preemptive strike on Saturday that killed 60 SLA soldiers.
More than 100 killed in S.Lanka fighting: Tigers

Mon Dec 22, 12:08 pm ET
More than 100 killed in S.Lanka fighting: Tigers AFP/File – Sri Lankan soldiers stand guard in Colombo in August. Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have claimed …

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COLOMBO (AFP) – Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels claimed killing at least 100 government soldiers on Monday while beating back a fresh offensive against their besieged political capital in the island's north.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) repulsed a two-pronged assault against the town of Kilinochchi after seven hours of fighting, a senior Tiger official, S. Puleedevan said.

He told the pro-rebel Tamilnet website that they also wounded more than 250 government troops, but did not give details of rebel casualties.

His claim came hours after the military said that security forces killed at least 56 Tamil Tiger rebels for the loss of 10 soldiers killed in fresh fighting on Monday.

About 40 soldiers and 90 rebels were wounded in the battles outside Kilinochchi, the military said in a statement.

The latest clashes came a day after the Tigers said they killed another 60 soldiers and wounded 150 in a counter attack on the outskirts of Kilinochchi over the weekend.

Both sides are known to make exaggerated claims about casualties they have inflicted on each other, and independent verification is virtually impossible as journalists and aid workers are barred from the conflict area.

Sri Lanka's military also carried out air attacks against suspected Tamil Tiger targets earlier on Monday to support ground troops, the military statement said.

Meanwhile President Mahinda Rajapakse asked the LTTE to allow 300,000 civilians in rebel-held areas to move away from the fighting.

"With the dawn of 2009, the LTTE should release all innocent Tamil people it is holding hostage and in bondage using them as human shields, and allow them to come to the safe areas," the president said in a statement on Monday.

In January the Sri Lankan government pulled out of a 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce with the rebels, who have been fighting since 1972 for a state for ethnic minority Tamils separate from the majority Sinhalese community.
Tamil Tigers vow to keep fighting By Roland Buerk
BBC News, Colombo
Tamil Tiger rebels - 12/12/2008
The Tigers say they have inflicted heavy losses on the army

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have said they will continue to fight even if they lose their political headquarters town of Kilinochchi.

There has been fierce fighting as the army tries to capture Kilinochchi.

The head of the rebels' political wing told the BBC he rejected the government's offer of talks if the Tigers disarmed first.

The Tigers say they killed 75 soldiers in the latest clashes. The army has put its losses at 12 dead and 12 missing.

The rival claims cannot be independently verified because journalists are barred from the conflict area.

Symbolic target

The battle for Kilinochchi in northern Sri Lanka is getting increasingly bloody. Both sides claim to be inflicting heavy casualties.

See map of the region

The rebels insist they can defend the town and the head of the Tamil Tigers' political wing, Balasingham Nadesan, told the BBC by e-mail that even if it falls, they will fight on.

"Freedom... never depends on one city. We can create more communities, more cities and [in] our freedom struggle, we are supported by people.

"We have the confidence that we will capture more areas in our motherland and we will create so many communities in [the] future."

He rejected out of hand the government's offer of talks if the Tigers laid down their weapons first.

"This is not a realistic question, we took up arms to safeguard our people, so we will keep these arms until the safeguard is guaranteed," Mr Nadesan said.

Kilinochchi is a hugely symbolic target of the government's offensive to crush the rebels.

In the town, the Tigers, or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), have assembled the trappings of the independent state they want for the ethnic Tamil minority, including political offices, courts and a police force.

Government ministers have been predicting the town's imminent capture for months, but the rebels are holding out.

A military spokesman said the people of Sri Lanka wanted the LTTE to be eliminated.

"The military also wanted the same thing and they are doing their level best to capture the rest of the areas" under Tamil Tiger control, said Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.

Sri Lanka's government says it is on track to win the war but heavy battles are likely to still lie ahead and there is concern about the fate of the large number of civilians in the Tiger-controlled north.

The rebels deny using them as human shields and reject allegations they are forcing people into their ranks to fight.