Terrorists had prevented troops and armour from moving in their direction by firing mortars, artillery and small arms. Approximately a four square kilometre area has become a no man's land as terrorists continued to hold onto army outer defences south of Kilinochchi.

The Security Forces headquarters, Jaffna has moved strong reinforcements into the area in support of General Officer Commanding [GOC] 54 Division's troops trying to regain the defences south of Kilinochchi. The military admitted that troops will have to re-build all defences as air and artillery strikes directed against them were resulting in heavy damages.

Troops of 54 Division headquartered at Elephant Pass are deployed in Vettilaikerni, Elephant Pass, Paranthan and Kilinochchi.The 54 is one of the three Divisions placed under the Security Forces Commander, Jaffna.

The military yesterday admitted that almost 90 soldiers including a few junior officers were believed to have been killed since fighting erupted in the 54 Division area last Sunday [1]. "We recovered the body of a Lance Corporal on Thursday," the military said.

Over 200 had been wounded. The majority of them had received minor injuries.

The LTTE had returned bodies of 41 soldiers killed in action to Vavuniya through the ICRC. However the military had accepted only ten bodies. "Only ten bodies were identified as members of the Army," a senior officer said. They were cremated in Vavuniya.

Thirty one bodies were cremated separately.

Bodies of over 200 terrorists killed in this week's fighting, the fiercest since the December 4 1997 debacle near Mankulam where the army lost 170 [killed] and almost 400 wounded had been buried by troops. The attempt to return the bodies of dead terrorists through the ICRC was aborted when the Security Forces headquarters, Jaffna and the LTTE highcomamnd failed to iron out differences over the modalities regarding the hand over of bodies.

The military strongly believes well over 300 terrorists, the majority of them members of the elite Leopards group commanded by former LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman, died. Leopards are believed to be also engaged in LTTE's secret war in the Jaffna peninsula.

The military said that one member of the Leopards was captured by troops. She had been admitted to the Palaly Military Hospital.

Further southwards of Kilinochchi troops of the ongoing Wanni offensive, Jayasikuru continued to consolidate their positions.Jayasikuru troops have now moved into Kunchukulam.Forward elements of Jayasikuru troops have moved beyond Mankulam-Mullaithivu road sometime ago.

The latest terrorist offensive was described as an attempt to increase the distance between Jayasikuru troops and the 54 Division. The military believes that considerable number of terrorist groups had been pulled out of the fight with Jayasikuru troops to attack Kilinochchi. "They have further reinforced their units deployed south of Kilinochchi," military officials said.

Meanwhile the Navy attacked an identified Sea Tiger facility at 4am Thursday. "We engaged the target for almost 50 minutes before withdrawing," an officer stationed at Trincomalee said yesterday. Over half a dozen vessels had been involved in the attack on the facility situated at Chenmalai, north of Kokkuthuduwai and south of Mullaithivu.

"We intercepted a coded LTTE message from the general area of Chenmalai," the officer said admitting that they were unable to de-code the message.

The attack on the Sea Tiger base came soon after Navy destroyed five Sea Tiger craft in the north in separate confrontations. Of the five three were engaged and destroyed off Mullaithivu and the remaining two off the Delft island.

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