Sri Lanka said Sunday that troops captured a Tamil Tiger naval base during a weekend advance into rebel-held territory that the guerrillas said killed nine civilians. Troops took the "Sea Tiger" base at Silavattura on Sunday following intense fighting in the Mannar district on Saturday, the defence ministry said in a statement.
"The army successfully captured an LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) Sea Tiger base, including three boats and a large quantity of anti-personnel mines and detonators," the ministry said. It said an unspecified number of civilians had fled and sought shelter in schools and a church within the government-controlled area of Mannar. Security forces seized territory that had been held by the LTTE just south of Mannar on Saturday, military officials said. "The army is now engaged in consolidation operations to retain control of the area," the defence ministry said.
The ministry said that another five guerrillas were killed in a separate confrontation with the security forces in the adjoining Vavuniya district on Saturday. In an earlier statement, the LTTE said nine people were killed and four injured in a landmine blast caused by Sri Lankan troops during the fighting in the coastal Mannar district.
The defence ministry, however, accused the LTTE of attacking civilians for allegedly trying to enter government-held parts of the Mannar. The LTTE also said Sunday that they killed a government soldier and lost one of their men in Saturday's fighting. The defence ministry said intercepts of rebel radio communications indicated that 11 guerrillas were killed.
Both sides regularly make casualty claims that cannot be independently verified. Government forces have been trying to break into rebel-held territory in the Mannar district for weeks, but have faced stiff rebel resistance. The two sides have been locked in combat since 1972, with the Tigers fighting for a separate state for minority Tamils. The 35-year-old ethnic conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives.
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