By Zacki Jabbar
Military Spokesman Major General Sarath Munasinghe declaring that the battle against the LTTE was at a decisive stage told journalists on Thursday that the area under government control since August 1994 has increased from 171 square kilometers to 5,343 square kilometers.

Speaking to both the local and foreign print media at the Information Department in Colombo he said that population in government controlled areas has also increased from 3,000 to 543,600 while the number of persons in the LTTE controlled areas towards Mullaithivu can’t be anything more than 100,000.

Expressing confidence in "Operation Jayasikuru" troops being able to speedily link up with Killinochchi he said that troops have now moved 46 km on the 76 km road from Vavuniya to Killinochchi.

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"We have come down about three kilometers from the Killinochchi area. Besides we have gone much further on either side of the road. We are now controlling the road stretch from Mankulam to Mullaithivu which was earlier an LTTE supply route. From the eastern flank we are only about 8 to 10 km from the northern defences. We are all over the 46 km stretch. Thousands of temporary camps have been set up. Some comprising just two soldiers. There are no permanent camps. We use the existing buildings".

The Tigers he said shifted their headquarters from Jaffna to Killinochchi after "Operation Rivirasa’. When the security forces gradually moved from Jaffna down to Killinochchi they naturally lost control of Mullaithivu which is where the LTTE has now set up base.

He put the number of tigers facing Operation Jayasikuru troops at a maximum of 6,000 plus another 1,000. This is in comparison to nearly 12,000 Tigers at the commencement of "Operation Jayasikuru".

He said that the Tigers have lost over 3,000 men during "Operation Jayasikuru" while the security forces casualties is in the region of 1,300.

He said that once the troops link up with Kilinochchi enabling the establishment of a supply route for about 500,000 people plus the security forces, the tigers will be forced to move to the eastern side of the northern province thereby curtailing their activities to a great extent.

Dismissing claims by the LTTE that they have converted into a fully conventional army after "Operation Riviresa" he said that the extent to which the LTTE has converted into a conventional army is limited to its use of mortars mainly 81 mm and 120 mm.

"Face to face LTTE resistance is nothing much, but they do fire a lot of mortars which could be advantageous when it is in jungle terrain which is what most of that area is. But if fired into an open space it is disadvantageous to us. That does not mean that there is no fightting at all. They come out into the open in small numbers now and then but the fighting is usually over in a matter of about five to ten minutes".

Asked from where the LTTE gets such a large quantity of mortars Munasinghe replied: "They have collected enough. We gave them a lot when we lost Mullaithivu and Paranthan. They also got hold of the mortar tubes from Mullaithivu. They also make their purchases from abroad".

Most of the captured Tigers he said hardly speak of having seen or met Prabhakaran. We believe he is some where in the Mullaithivu area but hardly comes out .

Munasinghe said that in 1994 the eastern province, Mannar islands and Elephant Pass going upto Vettilaikerni was very much under government control- consequently there were very few terrorist camps in the area.

Tracing the three stages of "Operation Riviresa" to capture Jaffna peninsula he said that during stage one from October 17, 1995 to December 2, 1995 Jaffna town and Valikamam area was liberated.

Stage two from April 19, 1996 to May 2, 1996 cleared the Thennamarachchi area while the Vadamarachchi area was captured during stage three commencing May 15, 1996 and ending on May 25, 1996.

During this period the terrorist presence in the eastern province increased due to government troops being pulled out for Northern operations.

Kilinochchi further to the south of Elephant Pass he said was liberated during "Operation Sathjaya" also launched in three stages from July 26, 1996 to October 3, 1996.

Thereafter came "Operation Edibala" launched from Vavuniya on February 4, 1997 establishing a road link between Vavuniya and Mannar.

Using this route "Operation Edibala" troops proceeded to clear the area from Madawachchiya junction to Kanagarayankulam junction.

Munasinghe said the clearing of Wilpattu jungle and the area upto Mannar effectively blocked LTTE movement from Puttalam through Wilpatu jungle to Colombo and the cessation of LTTE attacks in the Puttalam district.

"This particular route was very popular among the tigers to send it's suicide cadres to Colombo and banned items to the North. This does not mean that Tigers cannot come to Colombo because they could proceed via Batticaloa. However blocking the Puttalam route is considered an achievement".

Stage one of "Operation Jayasikuru" he said was launched on May 13, 1997 with troops moving form Thandikulam to Gajabapura in Welioya and therafter capturing Nedunkerni establishing a link between these towns and ensuring the security of Welioya which earlier came under constant attack from the 1- 4 tiger base complex.

This was in addition to the bases at Janakapura, Kokilai and Kokkuthuduwai.

The security forces he said also cleared the the area upto Omanthai and a point just short of Puliyankulam providing security to the "famous" route from Medawachchiya through Kebitigollawe to Welioya and in the process rendering the people in villages such as Halmillawa free from terrorist attacks. Stage one ended on October 4, 1997.

During stage two of "Operation Jayasikuru" which commenced on October 8 1997 and concluded on November 14, 1997 the security forces cleared Puliyankulam area and a stretch of land about three kilometers either side of the road — to the west and the east.

Munasinghe says that there is much less terrorist activity in the east now with the capture of Vakarai and the road stretch from Valachchenai upto Vakarai. A military camp has been established at Vakarai and the civil administration functions under the GA Batticalaoa S. Pathmanathan. There are about 20,000 civillians in this area.

Though the troops are not presently in Kokkodicholai they can walk in there any time as they did last week and destroyed some small terrorist camps. Establishing a military camp in this area will take some time he said.

"The LTTE has done exactly what we wanted by moving away from Vakarai, because control of this area is more important to us than Kokkadicholai".

Munasinghe admitted that the biggest loss suffered by the security forces since 1994 was at Mullaithivu. Of the 1,200 army personnel in the camp only 66 soldiers and two officers returned to the camp after the attack while the LTTE handed over 55 dead bodies through the ICRC of which only 12 could be identified individually. So the rest were declared as "missing in action".

The army's best fight he said which even the LTTE admits was the resistance put up by 39 men at the Kokavil camp in 1990. It took the LTTE nearly four days to overrun this camp providing security to the Rupavahini Corporation station despite the Air Force being unable to provide cover due to low cloud cover.

"The fact that the LTTE has not been able to carry out any major attacks in the eastern province for some time now shows that their morale is very low".