Eastern Theater of Eelam War IV - Battle of Vakarai

Battle of Vakarai

The Sri Lankan military announced that the capture of Vakarai, a coastal town of eastern Batticaloa district on January 19, 2007, the military has accused the LTTE of using civilians in the Vakarai hospital as a human shield and also using the hospital premises as an artillery launching pad.

The SLA's battle to take Vakarai (Vaakare) lasted nearly 3 months from October 30, 2006 to January 15, 2007. Vakarai (Vaakare) is a coastal city in the Batticaloa (Madakalapuva) district where the LTTE had clamped their own civil administration and police for some time.

As per Sri Lankan military sources, the military operation launched to gain the area of Vakarai from LTTE was conducted in two phases. The first phase was to facilitate the movement of civilians into the area under the Sri Lankan army (SLA). The Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the SLA infiltrated the area under the LTTE, and launched surprise attacks on them. This tactic caused the LTTE to engage with the SLA instead of holding the civilians (hostages) from fleeing into the SLA control zone.

The phase-II started on December 4, 2006 where the SLA troops advanced in three fronts from Trikonamadu(Thrikonamaduva), Kirimichchiya (Kirimaetiyaava), Kadjuwatte and cleared off 15 km into the Trikonamadu jungle. During this action, the LTTE targets at Kaddamuravikulam, Karuvappanchenai and Madurankernikulam were destroyed. The second advance of SLA started on December 9, 2006 from Mahindapura Southwards and captured LTTE camps around Echchalanpaththuwa area. The 3rd and 4th advances of SLA started on December 10, 2006 from Trikonamadu and Kadjuwatta onwards.