ICRC representatives took over the bodies at Mallavi in LTTE-controlled Vanni and were transporting them to the army headquarters 40 kms south in Vavuniya, it was learnt here.

Countless more decomposed bodies are lying in the battlefield and the air is filled with the stench of death, reported Voice of Tigers (VoT), the LTTE's clandestine radio monitored in Vavuniya. It also reported that civilians, who had fled Killinochchi town after the army captured it in 1996, have begun going back to inspect their homes and belongings.

Killinochchi, which served as the LTTE's capital for about nine months after they were dislodged from Jaffna in December 1995, was recaptured by the LTTE on Monday in an operation which VoTclaimed was led by their leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Sri Lankan defence ministry sources said it was the army's worst debacle since July 1996, when nearly 1,400 soldiers were killed in a single day in the LTTE attack on Mullaithivu military base.

There is still no accurate count of how many on either side died in the latest fighting though according to Sri Lankan government sources, it could cross into four figures. The LTTE has declared it lost 240 fighters. Official figures released by Sri Lanka on Tuesday admitted nearly 200 soldiers were killed and 300 injured. According to these figures, nearly 400 LTTE fighters were also killed.

ENS

adds from Colombo: On Wednesday, Sri Lanka claimed that it had finally captured a key town on the main Vavuniya-Jaffna highway which the military has been trying to secure since early 1996 to open a land route to the peninsula.

The army was preoccupied with capturing Mankulam since January this year but met with stiff resistance from the LTTE each time. Thegovernment is painting the town's capture as a major victory but experts believe that hold over this small town may not be enough compensation for the reported loss of Killinochchi.

An official press release said 62 soldiers died while 100 LTTE cadres were killed in the fighting for Mankulam that began on Tuesday. It could not be confirmed if the soldiers died in the fighting or when an ammunition dump exploded.

Meanwhile, search crews are still looking for the AN-24 that disappeared on its flight from Palaly air base in Jaffna to Ratmalana outside the capital on Tuesday.

Lion Air, the domestic airline to which the plane belonged, released the list of passengers and crew but desisted from saying that the aircraft had crashed. Operations director Air Vice Marshal Paddy Mendis said the possibility that the plane was hijacked could not be ruled out. ``That possibility does exist because there is no trace of the aircrft,'' he said.

The aircraft disappeared days after an LTTE warning to Lion Air andanother domestic airline not to transport soldiers to and from Jaffna on their planes.