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PRESS RELEASE

 


LTTE Headquarters      
Tamil Eelam                  
19 October 2000          

LTTE FORCES OVER-RUN DEFENCE LINES IN NAGARKOVIL:
MI 24 HELICOPTER GUNSHIP DESTROYED BY MISSILE

The combat formations of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) over-ran several front defence lines of the heavily fortified Nagarkovil military base in the eastern coast of the Jaffna Peninsula today inflicting heavy casualties on the Sri Lanka government troops. A Russian made MI 24 helicopter gunship was destroyed and another MI 24 helicopter was badly damaged in the heavy fighting.

Supported by heavy artillery and mortar fire the LTTE’s armed units launched a massive offensive assault as a continuation of the Operation Unceasing Waves 4 on the Nagarkovil military base situated along the eastern coastal belt about 20 kilometres from Elephant Pass. Fierce fighting erupted in the early hours of the morning and continued all day.

According to reports from the battlefield more than one hundred troops have been killed and over three hundred injured in the fighting. Five Sri Lankan military personnel , including the Gunners and pilots were killed when an MI 24 helicopters was brought down by anti-aircraft missile. LTTE’s field commanders say that intense fighting continues tonight.

(Released by the International Secretariat of LTTE, 211 Katherine Rd, London E6 1BU, United Kingdom.
Tel : 44 20 8503 4294)



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