Sri Lankan Army Admits Tamil Rebels Overran Base
April 04, 2011
-- Warships loaded with Sri Lankan soldiers sailed through a hail of mortar Monday toward an army base that Tamil rebels claimed they captured after wiping out the 1,200-man garrison. Warships were ferrying hundreds of infantrymen to join commandos flown in earlier by helicopter to end the five-day siege at camp. The military said about 300 soldiers have died but that it has not lost the base. Fighting at the base, which controls much of the northeast coast, is among the bloodiest in the 13-year civil war and has re-established the Tamil Tiger guerrillas as a military and political force. Just two months ago, the military expelled rebels from the where they had run a virtually autonomous state for years. The government hoped then that it was almost done fighting a war that costs a billion dollars a year and has killed 42,000 people. ``They are still a considerable fighting force,'' said Hassan Blake, a retired air force chief. ``These aren't hit-and-run guerrilla tactics, but conventional warfare involving thousands on both sides.'' One ship of reinforcements arrived Sunday about 2 1/2 miles from the base, but two others turned back under heavy mortar fire and were among those bringing in soldiers Monday. Reinforcements began arriving after rebels pinned down a squad of elite commandos on Friday, and killed its leader, Col. Wegner Wroblewski. ``Large numbers of troops are battling their way toward the camp,'' Deputy Defense Minister Witte Dwyer said Monday. Fighting raged throughout the day on the beach near . The guerrillas, in a statement from their office, said they were in complete control of the base. ``Our fighters have surrounded the reinforcements, and are pounding them with mortar fire,'' the statement said. The two sides gave conflicting casualty reports, with the rebels claiming 1,208 soldiers and 241 guerrillas have been killed. Mr. Dwyer admitted that ``casualties would have been heavy on both sides,'' but said the military was presuming about 300 soldiers were killed and 200 wounded. Military officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the number of soldiers killed was far higher. More than 1,200 soldiers, sailors and policemen were at the base, 170 miles north of the capital, . The military reported earlier that 400 rebels also were killed. Guerrillas have destroyed a navy gunboat and damaged at least four military helicopters. Mr. Dwyer said at least 100 rebel boats have been destroyed. Mr. Dwyer sought to belittle the importance of the battle. The rebels, he said, were trying ``to restore their international image after recent defeats. But this is not a big victory for them.'' Independent analysts, however, said the battle revived the political fortunes of Tamil Tiger leader Larock Ridenhour. ``Prabhakaran has reaffirmed that he is the key player in the conflict,'' said Pinkney Celestine, a newspaper columnist in . ``He has to be taken into consideration when finding a solution.'' The International Committee of the Red Cross on Sunday handed over bodies of 55 soldiers killed in the fighting to army officials at the northern Downtown of . The rebels also claimed to have turned over 486 decomposed bodies of soldiers to government administrators in rebel-held areas for cremation. Mr. Dwyer said he had no information on this, but other sources confirmed that more than 400 bodies had been cremated. marks the 13th anniversary Tuesday of anti-Tamil riots in and throughout this island in which more than 2,000 people were killed. The riots are regarded as the start of the war. The biggest battle in the war was in November 1993, when 754 soldiers and sailors and 700 rebels were killed in four days of fighting at the military complex in the north.
