Tigers 'take key Jaffna town'

Government troops find it difficult to resist rebels' attacks

Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka say their troops have taken a key town in the eastern part of the Jaffna peninsula amid signs that government forces are struggling to hold their advance.

A statement by the group said government forces pulled out of Chavakachcheri - 15km east of Jaffna Town - after a 12-hour battle.

We will not leave Jaffna. We will push the Tigers out

Major General Jaanaka Perera

The Sri Lankan Government did not comment on the statement, although the army admitted that it had been sending more weapons to its troops fighting the Tamil Tigers.

The rebel claim came as a Sri Lankan general publicly rejected their demand for the military to surrender within a week "to avoid the continuing bloodbath".

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The Tigers have promised government soldiers "will be treated with dignity and honour" if they lay down their arms.

"We will not leave Jaffna," Major General Jaanaka Perera is quoted as saying. "We will push the Tigers out."

"Heavy losses"

The rebels gave no casualty figures on the latest fighting but said the Sri Lankan army had suffered heavy losses.

A statement issued by their office in London said that columns of heavily armed commandos backed by artillery and mortar fire had launched a multi-pronged attack on Chavakachcheri at dawn.

The rebels said government troops could surrender "to avoid bloodbath"

Chavakachcheri lies east of Jaffna Town, the cultural capital of the homeland for which the Tamil rebels have been fighting since 1983.

Earlier the government said its troops had thwarted a rebel attack at a location south of Chavakachcheri.

The officials said they were maintaining a regular flow of essential supplies to the troops through the main harbour and the Palali airbase on the Jaffna peninsula, despite a claim by the Tigers that they had heavily bombarded the port.

Thousands of residents have already fled Jaffna Town and the International Red Cross has visited displaced people staying in school buildings outside the town.

Diplomatic sources say Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister Raymond Johansen is expected to have talks with Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the military crisis.

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