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The Sri Lankan military on Monday recovered some lost ground and took control of the Sampur town in the crucial Trincomalee District which had earlier gone in the hands of Tamil rebels. The fight for Sampur had been launched a week ago and the military backed by air support launched an offensive to take control of Sampur. In the end it was a cake-walk for the military as they experienced very little resistance from the LTTE. Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that the troops met very little resistance when they moved into the town. He said the entire harbour mouth, including several Sea Tiger bases, was now in military control. The re-capture of Sampur is considered important as it provides strategic importance for the military to ward off rebel’s attack on the Trincomalee port. Currently, a mine –clearing exercise is being conducted by the army to remove land mines and explosive devices left by the rebels. Announcing the Trincomalee ‘victory’ at the 55th convention of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which was held today in Colombo, President Mahinda Rajapaksa urged the LTTE rebels to come to the negotiations. However, there have been conflicting reports from the Tamil Tigers as some of them have disputed the claims of the Sri Lankan military and have stated that they were still “fiercely resisting’ the Lanka army. Speaking to BBC, LTTE leader Elilan said: “We are still fighting in the Sampur area”.
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