22.11.2008

On the heels of Army gains over Pooneryn, Mankulam, Kokavil and elsewhere in the Wanni theater of humanitarian operations, Commander of the Army Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka Friday (21) morning flew to Security Forces Headquarters Wanni (SFHQ-W) to offer his profuse thanks and commendation to the heroic troops, responsible for successive military achievements.

Lieutenant General Fonseka at the beginning of the discussion at the Security Forces Headquarters, Wanni congratulated all the Commanders of respective Divisions, Brigades and other Formations on their achievements, particularly made in Pooneryn, enabling re-opening of the A-32 land route shortly to Jaffna peninsula.

Paying a special tribute to those ground troops, Commander reminded the importance of Pooneryn and told his officers that Army Engineer troops have already moved into the A-32 Highway areas for urgent renovation work in consultation with other state agencies

Lieutenant General Fonseka, on being informed of the arrival of thirty-nine Tamil civilians in Omanthe, just a few hours before his entry into SFHQ-W inquired about arrangements in place to receive those escapees coming from un-cleared areas. Resumption of ICRC duties on Friday (21) at Omanthe Entry/Exit point, Conduct of future routine clearance procedures, Passage of UN and Government food convoys into un-cleared areas, Measures need to be taken to prevent possible infiltration of Tiger terrorists and their proxies into cleared areas, future Wanni offensives, etc were among many other matters of military significance that were taken up during this meeting after the visiting Commander received briefings from ground commanders present at the meeting.

Lieutenant General Fonseka also spelt out measures that should be adopted strictly to zero civilian casualties in the future offensives, too without leaving any space for the enemy to exploit in any eventuality.

Major General J.C Rambukpotha, acting Commander SFHQ-W received the Commander and his team on arrival at the Wanni airstrip. Major General Rambukpotha at the commencement of the meeting presented an overall account of the security situation in the entire Wanni.