Around 11.45pm- 12 midnight, a team of Special Forces (1SF) and another team from 2 Commando led by Colonels Athula Kodippili and Ralph Nugera breached the 12km LTTE earthbund.The teams cleared a stretch of 3km from Puthumathalang towards Valaimadam. Heavy fighting erupted between the LTTE and the Special Forces. Large volumes of LTTE artillery and mortar fire from the NFZ started landing on the LTTE bund.
The Special Forces took the lead and went on an aggressive bunker-busting operation. Troops reported heavy casualties to the LTTE via communication sets. By the time the bund was cleared, 11 Special Forces soldiers including a Special Forces Captain had laid down their lives.
Soon afterward, thousands of civilians took to their heels and started running towards the now breached LTTE earth bund as Tigers started running in the opposite direction unable to face the SF and Commando squads. The Special Forces and Commandos temporarily halted their offensives and allowed the civilians to come.
3 Black Tigers hiding among the civilians blasted bombs strapped to their bodies killing 17 civilians. Total casualties to civilians in the 3 blasts was around 200.
At the same time, 2000 civilians escaping by boats towards Pulmoddai were picked up by the Navy. Another 5000 were rescued by a special team sent in by Brigadier Prasanna Silva of the 55 Division.
By 10pm today, rescued civilians, fed and rested at Puthumathalang, were arriving in steady numbers at welfare centers at Vavuniya. The Army was welcoming them with a hot meal and other refreshments while MIC searched for suicide bombers. One black tiger suicide bomber has been identified so far.
The Army was extremely happy with the 38,000+ civilians they rescued within the first day of the rescue mission and having breached the largest remaining LTTE earth bund today. Another large rescue of this nature could really put the ‘cat amongst the pigeons’, the cat in this scenario being the elite units of the Army.
During the entire operation, all high ranking officers of the Army, Navy and Air Force, the Defence Secretary and even President Rajapakse were awake and providing moral support to the frontline troops, led so fittingly by the 1st Brigade of the Special Forces, the oldest squadrons of the SF and 2 Commando, the spearhead of all 58 Division operations.
According to the sources, several thousands of others are waiting them to be rescued by the armed forces. All hostages held in Ampalavanpokkanai and Valayanmadam areas have been rescued, the sources added.
The mass rescue operation reached a significant phase when troops captured the 3 km long earth bund built by the LTTE, on the western border of the No Fire Zone this morning (Apr 20). With this capture troop opened a safe route for the hostages to come out of the LTTE grip which was occupied by tens of thousands civilians seeking refuge with the soldiers.
Meanwhile, defence sources on the field said that LTTE terrorists have launched a cowardly attack at the Tamil civilians leaving their grip. Defence.lk special correspondent in the area said that three LTTE suicide cadres have exploded themselves killing dozens of refugees including women and children.
“The terrorists initially fired at the civilians on the causeway using heavy machine guns. When they stepped into the lagoon to avoid LTTE machine gunfire, three LTTE cadres ran on to them and exploded themselves”, he said.
Source :Defence.lk,DEFENCEWIRE