In Sri Lanka's eastern battlefield

When a MI-17 helicopter loaded with media personnel landed in Sri Lanka's eastern Vakarai district, the feature of the battlefield was clearly revealed by deserted houses and heavily armed soldiers.

About one week after capturing Vakarai from Tamil Tiger rebels, government troops are busy in consolidating their triumph by chasing fleeing rebels, demining the field and repairing damaged infrastructure.

Artillery guns, rifles, hand grenades, claymore mines and other weapons which were captured from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were displayed to the media along the A15 road in Vakarai, some 220 km northeast of the capital Colombo.

Eastern Security Forces Commander Major General Parakrama Pannipitiya said more than 500 LTTE rebels were killed in the military operation which started last November and 331 bodies of the rebels were found.

"I am very happy that we didn't hurt innocent civilians in the operation," said Pannipitiya.

The operation also made the Batticaloa-Trincomalee A15 road passable for vehicles after being blocked by the LTTE for 11 years.

Burned lorries, tractors, motorcycles and even sewing machines laid scattered along the A15 road.

"The LTTE burned these items that they could not carry with them before they fled the area," Pannipitiya said.

He said that it will take several months to remove thousands of anti personnel mines laid by the LTTE in Vakarai.

"So far we have removed nearly 1,000 anti personnel mines from the area but they account for only about 10 percent of the total amount," Pannipitiya added.

The fled LTTE rebel deserted scores of camps in the region, with empty ammunition boxes, uniforms, blankets, note books, broken radios and television sets being littered on the ground.

In a camp in Venrugal, about 10 km north of Vakarai, a lot of rifle bullets were still there.

"LTTE rebels have fled into the jungles, but we have our own strategy to deal with them, " said Pannipitiya without elaboration.

There were no more doctors or nurses in Vakarai hospital, which had been occupied by the LTTE to treat its injured members before the fall of the town on Jan. 19.

The hospital, still piled with medicines and medical equipment, has become the home of stray dogs.

The capture of Vakarai, which is regarded as a LTTE controlled area under the Norwegian brokered ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE in 2002, put more doubts on the fate of the agreement.

"Sri Lanka is under the government's control. We are fighting against terrorism and rescuing civilians from the clutch of the LTTE," Pannipitiya stressed.

In the Panichchankerni bridge which is about 5 km south of the Vakarai town, a group of engineering troops was busy in repairing the bridge blown off by the fleeing Tiger terrorists.

"The LTTE placed four devices to explode the bride. Fortunately, only one of them exploded and others were defused," said Major Chandrana Wickramanayake, who is in charge of the repairing work.

The bridge was passable for vehicles after being partly repaired within 24 hours of the explosion, but it will take long time to rebuild the bridge.

Most of the 42,000 residents in the Vakarai region fled to government controlled areas with the escalation of clashes between government troops and the LTTE.

Tamiraja, who fled to the Panichchankerni area seven months ago with 62 families, said he didn't know government troops had captured Vakarai.

"If this is true, I will go back home very soon," said Tamiraja.

Source: Xinhua