Army authorities serving Omanthai Entry/ Exit point Wednesday (3) evening received nineteen partly disfigured and decomposed corpses of Army soldiers, confirmed to have been delivered to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) officials by Tiger terrorists in Mullaittivu district.

Of them, seven dead bodies have been so far identified as those of the brave Army soldiers who had gone missing in Nachchikuda area on Tuesday (2). Troops fighting in the east of Nachchikuda in Mullaittivu District reported that seven of their fellow-soldiers had unfortunately failed to marry up with the rest of their troops after heavy fighting, as dusk fell on Tuesday (2).

It was only late Tuesday (2) evening, Army troops handed over twenty dead LTTE cadres to the ICRC officials to be taken to un-cleared areas across Omanthai Entry/Exit point. Most of those felled terrorists were from Mallavi, Palamoddai and Welioya areas.

Similarly, fierce battles that were raging in Akkarayanakulam, in the deep north of Nachchikuda and Mallavi areas and other surrounding areas where a series of pitched and ferocious battles were raging in the past 72 hours for salvation of besieged civilians, beginning last Sunday (31), had brought death to twelve more soldiers as the fighting escalated in those areas throughout day and night.

Those twelve remaining dead bodies, delivered to the Army by ICRC officials are still to be identified, as many of those remains are partly decomposed, some of them very badly and beyond identification. Those mortal remains have been dispatched to General Hospital mortuary for identification and necessary funeral arrangements.

Army authorities at the Vavuniya Base Hospital at the time this report was filed were busy coordinating final arrangements in regard to further details and information, connected to those remains as other legal proceedings get underway.

Courtesy: Army.lk