No setback to anti-terror campaign in Sri Lanka

The Sri Lankan government said Thursday that a skirmish in the northern Jaffna peninsula which had left a large number of government troops dead was not a serious setback in the island nation's campaign to end terrorism.

"This was not a setback, not a debacle," Keheliya Rambukwella, the government's defense spokesman and the minister of Foreign Employment told reporters.

He was responding to clashes with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which had raged into a serious fight since Monday night and throughout Tuesday.

The government said 43 soldiers were killed and 33 were missing with 120 more injured in the battle at Muhamalai in the Jaffna peninsula.

Meanwhile, 81 rebels were killed and 196 others were injured inthe incident.

"They (rebels) came to attack the military defense line in order to move further into Jaffna," Rambukwella said, adding that "the Army repulsed the attack and are now occupying the LTTE first forward defense line."

However, the rebel casualty figures indicated much higher military casualties, with Tigers claiming they had killed over 100soldiers.

"Our goal of eliminating terrorism by the end of the year still remains," Rambukwella said.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman said that the Army had consolidated its positions in Muhamalai after the clashes.

The government is engaged in its current campaign in the north to eliminate the rebels from the north by the end of the year. More than 7,000 people have died in the escalation of the conflict since the end of 2005.

Source: Xinhua