Sri Lankan Forces’ Battle With Rebels Claims 1,400 Lives
Sri Lanka’s military claimed a major battlefield prize Wednesday, but reports of the staggering cost of the victory--nearly 1,400 soldiers and Tamil rebels dead--underlined how difficult it will be for either side to win their 15-year war.
The battle occurred along a strategic highway that links Colombo, the capital, to the government-held northern town of Jaffna.
Red Cross spokesman Harsha Gunawardene said rebels on Wednesday handed over the bodies of 600 soldiers, apparent casualties of the fighting that began Sunday.
Gunawardene said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam returned the bodies at Mallavi, 25 miles southwest of Kilinochchi, a key town at the northern end of the highway where fighting reportedly continued Wednesday.
The Red Cross toll is in addition to 262 soldiers whose bodies were recovered by the military. In Colombo, hospital officials said an additional 53 soldiers have died in hospitals. The military also said it killed 477 rebels in the fighting.
The rebels are battling for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east. The Sinhalese control the government.
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