- Title: SRI LANKA: FUNERAL OF SOLDIERS KILLED DURING FIGHTING WITH LTTE AT ELEPHANT PAST
- Date: 26th April 2000
- Summary: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (APRIL 26, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. SLV MILITARY BAND 0.06 2. CU CLOSE-UP OF BAND 0.10 3. BV WOMAN CRYING WOMAN 0.14 4. SLV SOLDIERS 0.18 5. SV CRYING WOMAN WITH BABY 0.25 6. SV CRYING GIRL 0.29 7. SLV COFFIN ARRIVING (2 SHOTS) 0.47 8. SLV SOLDIERS SALUTING (2 SHOTS) 0.55 9. SLV SOLDIERS MOVING COFFIN 1.02 10. SLV MILITARY BAND 1.09 11. MV/SLV SOLDIERS MARCHING, CARRYING GUNS (2 SHOTS) 1.21 12. MV COFFIN ON CAR 1.26 13. LV MORE OF SOLDIERS MARCHING 1.33 14. SLV COFFIN 1.54 15. MV MILITARY OFFICERS 1.59 16. LV SOLDIERS 2.03 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 11th May 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: COLOMBO, SRI LANKA
- Country: Sri Lanka
- Reuters ID: LVA3IW4KVXYE81Z4H7UIFODXVPO4
- Story Text: Sri Lanka has been mourning soldiers killed at
Elephant Pass during fighting with the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last weekend.
On Wednesday (April 26), the government held a funeral
amid tight security for soldiers killed in intense fighting at
Elephant Pass.
On Saturday the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)
captured the sprawling army base of Elephant Pass, handing the
military their most spectacular defeat in 17 years of ethnic
war.
On Wednesday, dozens of relatives of the victims wept as
the funeral got underway as the army's death toll in the
weekend fighting rose to 214.
The LTTE handed over bodies of 126 soldiers to the
International Committee of the Red Cross on Tuesday (April
25).
The military had received the 126 bodies, but that only
28 of them could be identified by a special team flown to the
Wanni region from Jaffna.
More than 60,000 people have been killed in years of
fighting between government troops and Tamil separatists.
Hospitals in Colombo are struggling to cope with the
casualties brought in from the war front.
The LTTE has said more than 1,000 soldiers died in the
battle, a claim denied by the government which said at least
150 rebels had also died in the fighting.
Sri Lankan airforce jets kept up pressure on Tamil Tiger
rebels with more bombing raids on guerrilla targets at a
northern army base lost to the rebels last weekend.
Military officials said the navy had also increased its
presence in the seas off the Jaffna peninsula to ensure rebels
did not use the coastline to augment their military supplies.
Peace moves made some headway earlier this year after
Norway said it would facilitate talks between the two sides in
an effort to end Sri Lanka's 17-year ethnic war.
Sri Lanka's military strategy has come under severe
criticism following the several defeats in past months at the
hand of the LTTE, which with a much smaller force has taken a
large army of some 100,000 troops with sophisticated weapons
head on.
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