Military officials confirmed that four officers were among those killed when soldiers attempted on Monday to break the stalemate of Operation Jaya Sekuru launched in May last year to take control of a highway from Vavuniya to Killinochchi in LTTE-held territory. The fighting lasted more than six hours, from daybreak till about noon. Using heavy artillery and mortar fire, the LTTE seems to have once again thwarted the army from securing the town of Mankulam. Control of the town is essential for controlling the highway which the army is seeking to secure.

Apart from the casualties, one tank was destroyed in the fighting while two other tanks and an Mi24 helicopter gunship were damaged.

An announcement over the LTTE's clandestine Voice of Tigers monitored in the northern town of Vavuniya saidtwo of its fighters were killed while beating back the military advance to Mankulam on the Killinochchi highway.

The LTTE claimed that apart from destroying three tanks, it had taken a large stock of army weapons from the battlefield. The advance into LTTE territory which began in May last year from Vavuniya, has covered about 50 km of the highway so far. Military officials claim they are only two km south of Mankulam town on the highway, while they have advanced north of the town on both sides of the road. According to the officials, when the town is captured, the remaining 30 km of the highway to Killinochchi will be a cakewalk. Anticipating this, the LTTE which wants to prevent the army from taking control of the road at any cost, is believed to have stationed hundreds of suicide cadres in Mankulam town to resist any military advance.

Last month, the LTTE announced that 1,165 cadres had perished in the fight for the road, a figure disputed by the government which has placed the Tigers' losses atnearly 3,500. It is estimated that after the latest battle, nearly 1,000 soldiers have been killed and many thousands injured in the 11-month old military operation.