ARMY TROOPS CAPTURE THE MAIN NERVE CENTER OF OF THE LTTE’S EASTERN COMMAND AT KOKKADICHOLAI

By Walter Jayawardhana

In one of its major accomplishments the Sri Lanka Army captured one of the nerve centers of the Eastern Command of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Kokkadicholai with its mansion , air-conditioned conference hall built for foreigners and a large haul of arms.

In the face of the advancing Light Infantry troops of the Sri Lanka Army the Tamil Tigers left most of their weapons and fled, the Sri Lanka Army said.

The Sri Lanka Army sources said, “valiant troops of the 7 Sri Lanka Light Infantry (7 SLLI) this morning (28) completely brought Kokkadicholai, one of LTTE’s nerve centers, to the south of Batticaloa under their control.”

Describing the captured LTTE conference hall as the main nerve center of the Tamil Tigers’ Eastern Command the army sources said, “This huge LTTE conference hall that would have cost millions contains a spacious auditorium, air-conditioned bedrooms, electricity-run kitchen units, pantries, washrooms and other modern furniture and equipment. In the most recent past Tiger terrorists conducted media briefings in this building for both local and international media.”

The Army also described the camp as the point of origin of artillery attack directed against the diplomatic officials and minister Mahinda Samarasinghe injuring the US and Italian ambassadors in Colombo when they recently visited the Weber stadium in Batticaloa.

The troops were also able to discover a large haul of arms in the camp the army claimed. They found a large haul of claymore mines, land mines, anti-personnel mines, improvised explosive devices, guns and other warlike items “that had been hurriedly left behind by fleeing Tiger terrorists in the face of advancing troops,” the sources said.

Another interesting place the army captured was a Moonshine Center which produced the illicit liquor and allegedly distributed in the whole Batticaloa District as an income for the insurgent group.
With the fall of kokkadicholai the Army has now taken over a large area South and West of Batticaloa town under their control.

The Army also added , “In the past fortnight, thousands of brave soldiers of 6 Gemunu Watch (6 GW) and 8 Gemunu Watch (8 GW), led by the Commandos cleared Vavunathivu and Unnichchiya areas and linked them up together facilitating the return of the refugees.”

 

The army also said, All these “humanitarian missions” ably backed by Sri Lanka Armored Corps (SLAC) troops as well as Special Task Force (STF) troops have now been able to bring near normalcy to those cleared areas after deploying troops for regular route clearing operations, de-mining work and erecting new security installations and roadblocks with a view to ensuring security for the returnees.

Engineer troops of the Army in coordination with civil authorities are now busy repairing major infrastructure facilities in newly liberated areas including the restoration of damaged houses and public places, the sources further said.