LTTE claims control over military installations

By V. S. Sambandan

COLOMBO, APRIL 19. The LTTE today marked the fifth anniversary of its latest separatist war against Sri Lankan security forces, claiming control over several military installations in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

The LTTE, in a statement, said it had brought under its control a section of a strategic highway linking the Elephant Pass military complex to government-held Jaffna town. According to the rebel radio and the Defence Ministry, 31 rebels and 12 soldiers were killed in combat in the Pallai- Iyakachchi sector of Jaffna.

Meanwhile, the Presidential secretariat, in a statement, said the President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, who has gone abroad for ``a regular medical check-up'', had asked the senior Cabinet Minister, Mr. Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, to chair Cabinet meetings and ``supervise'' the work of the President's office in her absence.

Ms. Kumaratunga, who escaped a suicide bomb attack on December 18 recently left for an undisclosed destination.

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Section  : International
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