MR asks Pirapa to lay down arms and negotiate

Troops gain control of Pooneryn

Government control was once again extended to strategic Pooneryn after a lapse of 15 years when troops from Task Force One (TF1) took control of the town close to the southern shores of Killali lagoon yesterday morning.

Soon after the announcement of regaining Pooneryn was made President Mahinda Rajapakse once again called on Tiger leader Velupillai Pirapaharan to lay down arms.

“I inform the people in this country that our heroic soldiers have been able to liberate the full stretch of the A-32 road (Mannar- Pooneryn) and the Pooneryn area this morning. At this moment, I very clearly call Prabhakaran of LTTE to immediately lay down your arms and come to the negotiation table,” the President said over state radio yesterday morning.

Troops from TF1 began advancing north east of their last positions at Chempankundu, on the A32 Mannar-Pooneryn highway, south of Pooneryn early on Friday night and yesterday morning had first gained access to Nallur, a small village on the B69 Paranthan-Pooneryn road. Earlier the Defence Ministry said that the plan was to cut off Pooneryn, by denying Tigers access to the B69. Thereafter troops had advanced the 10 kilometres from Nallur to Pooneryn and gained access to the town for the first time since November 1993.

“Infantrymen of 12 Gamunu Watch (12 GW) and 10 Gajaba Regiment (10 GR) successfully negotiated the great marshlands south of Pooneryn last night, and cut off the Pooneryn-Paranthan road (B-69) close to Nallur before dawn today. Troops then marched about 10 Km along the B-69 and entered into the Pooneryn town,” the Defence Ministry said.

The Army said that the TF1 had cleared the nine kilometres on the A32 between Pooneryn and Chempankundu as well.

Commander of the Army Lt Gen Sarath Fonseka telephoned President Rajapakse yesterday morning to personally inform the regaining of Pooneryn, the Army said. The Army commander had also called the commanding officers of the TF1 yesterday morning to congratulate them.

The Tigers had placed their long range 130 mm guns with an effective range of 27 km at Kalmunait Point, at the northern tip of the small Pooneryn peninsula and used them to target Jaffna town, Pallali air base and the high security zone at the northern rim of the Jaffna peninsula.

Military spokesperson Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said that troops did not locate any Tiger artillery pieces and said that they may have been moved further south east. Reports from the area in the last fortnight had indicated that the Tigers had moved the artillery and mortar pieces north east of Paranthan.

No casualty figures were available of the clashes in the Pooneryn area in the last 48 hrs. There were no details reported of the battles in pro-Tiger websites or official Tiger outlets even late yesterday afternoon.