Eelam War III

• 19 April, 1995: The LTTE sinks SLNS Sooraya and SLNS Ranasuru ending peace talks. • 28 June, 1995: The LTTE overruns the Sri Lankan military base at Mandaitivu. • 9 July, 1995: SLA conducted a major operation to remove LTTE from Jaffna Peninsula. • 28 July, 1995: The LTTE attack the Sri Lankan military base at Weli Oya and is repulsed with heavy loses. • 17 October - 5 December, 1995 : Government launches Operation Riviresa -recapturing the Jaffna peninsular from the LTTE. • 23 December, 1995 :LTTE attacked on army detachment in the Batticaloa district killing 33 troops. • 18 July, 1996 : The LTTE overruns the Sri Lankan military base at Mullaitivu, the attack carried out after midnight. The number of killed in action and missing in action were around 1600 as per military sources. There were more than 4000 LTTE cadre's participated the attack and captured large quantity of arms and military equipment. The base was used as Sri Lanka Army's 215 Brigade Headquarters. One of the major encounters broke out between the LTTE and the Special Forces (SF) commando reinforcements Lt. Col. Laphir and 36 others were killed and 60 more were wounded. Sri Lanka Air-force pilots landed the second batch of Commando's in the same location and also taken the dead body of Lt. Col.Laphir by rope pulled down from the helicopter under heavy LTTE gunfire. The code name given by the LTTE "Oyatha Alaikal" (Endless Waves) to attack the Mullaitivu Military base and SLA code was named as "Operation Thrivida Pahara" for the rescue mission. • 26 July - 3 October, 1996: SLA launched Operation Sathjaya to capture Kilinochchi from LTTE. After 70 days of siege Army finally captured Kilinochchi • 11 December, 1996: LTTE militants numbering over 500 cadres began their attack on the STF detachment. • 7 March, 1997: LTTE militants attacked and overran the SLA military camp at Vavunathivu off Batticaloa. • 23 March, 1997:A naval battle fought between the Sri Lanka Navy and Sea Tigers on 23 March 1997, off the coast of town of Mullativu. • Thandikulam-Omanthi offensive 10 June - 25 June, 1997:The Thandikulam–Omanthai offensive was a battle for the control of the towns of Thandikulam and Omanthai in Sri Lanka in June 1997. • 4 December, 1997:SLA Two Detachment ran into a Ambush by LTTE. It became the "Worst Debacle" suffered by SLA before Second Battle of Elephant Pass. • Operation Jayasikurui (1997-1998): In May 1997 SLA launched Operation Jayasikurui (Sure Victory) to open land route to Jaffna Peninsula. The main objective of the operation was to liberate A9 Highway from Vavuniya to Kilinochchi. The total distance was approximately 70 km. Army abandoned this operation after 18 months without achieving its main goal. • Operation Unceasing Waves II: LTTE launched Operation Unceasing Waves II also known as 1998 Battle of Kilinochchi. . LTTE recaptured Kilinochchi town from Army after 3 days of intense battle. • Operation Rana Gosa(Battle cry): It was carried out in 4 phases. Army captured more than 500sq.km. of LTTE territory in Vanni (Sri Lanka). • Operation Rivibala: It was a secret operation launched by the Army to capture Oddusuddan. It was an important LTTE base near LTTE's stronghold Mullaitivu. • Operation Unceasing Waves III: LTTE launched Operation Unceasing Waves III on the first week of November 1999. On first day LTTE began Oddusuddan offensive (1999). After capturing the base they attacked Kanakarayankulam Army HQ. After the fall of the base LTTE recaptured most part of Vanni . • Second Battle of Elephant Pass: LTTE after capturing Vanni launched their attack to capture the Jaffna Peninsula. Known as Second Battle of Elephant Pass LTTE stepped up operation inside Jaffna Peninsula. Under the leadership of Brig. Balraj LTTE launched SL Civil War's largest behind enemy line operation. After 34 days long battle Elephant Pass base fell to Tamil Tigers. • The Battle for the A-9 highway :The battle was fought in March and April 2000 for the control of the Sri Lankan A-9 highway • Operation Unceasing Waves IV: On 26 September 2000 LTTE launched Operation Unceasing Waves IV. The objective of the operation was to capture Jaffna. • '''LTTE's Unilateral ceasefire''': On 24 December 2000 LTTE declared Unilateral ceasefire. It was ended on 24 April 2001. • 24 July, 2001:The attack was one of the boldest the LTTE mounted during its war with the Sri Lankan government, and had a profound impact on the country's military, economy, and airline industry. • Operation Agni keela: Army launched Operation Agnikeela on 25 April 2001 within few hours after LTTE ended their unilateral ceasefire. Its main objective was to retake Elephant Pass Garrison which they lost to LTTE one year back. LTTE had Booby trap whole paths and effectively positioned their artillery and mortar units. Due to heavy casualties, the army abandoned the operation. • 2002 Peace Process: After few rounds of talks Sri Lankan Government and LTTE signed permanent ceasefire on 22 February 2002. Thus Eelam War III came to an end. ==Civilian killings==

Kallarawa massacre The Kallarawa massacre is an incident on May 25, 1995, during which LTTE cadres massacred 42 Sinhalese men, women and children in Kallarawa. All the remaining civilian survivors fled the village after this incident leading to its depopulation. However survivors from the Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim communities have returned to Kallarawa under the protection of the Sri Lankan Army. Kumarapuram massacre On February 11, 1996, the Sri Lankan Army soldiers massacred 26 Sri Lankan Tamil civilians in the village called Kumarapuram located in the Trincomalee district. According to several survivors interviewed by Amnesty International, 13 women and 7 children below the age of 12, were killed by soldiers from the 58th mile post and Dehiwatte army camps. Among the victims was a 15-year-old girl who was gang-raped before being shot dead. Gonagala massacre The Gonagala Massacre was a massacre that occurred on September 18, 1999, in the small village of Gonagala, located in the Ampara District of Sri Lanka. According to reports, over 50 men, women and children were hacked to death in the middle of the night. The massacre is attributed to the LTTE, which is banned as a terrorist organization by a number of countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, India and the European Union. The Gonagala massacre is one of several such attacks believed to have been carried out by the LTTE. However these murders gained notoriety because, unlike previous attacks, most of the LTTE cadres who took part in it were women. According to survivors, there was a significant presence of female cadres among the 75 LTTE cadres who took part in the killings == Controversy over the Army's handling of its casualties and their families ==

In August 2001, S. P. Thamilselvan, the leader of the political wing of the Tamil Tigers, accused the Sri Lankan Army of intentionally abandoning the bodies of nearly a thousand soldiers on the battlefields since May, despite the Tamils’ request that the Red Cross act as an intermediate. He told visiting relatives of missing servicemen that the military had only accepted 55 bodies to return to their families, while burying the rest with full military honors on the spot. Thamilselvan did not offer a reason for the army's refusal, but did note that several hundred decomposing bodies remained in a minefield due to the danger of extracting them. A Sri Lankan military spokesman, Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne, acknowledged that the army cannot always retrieve a body because it might cost more lives, but denied the Tamil accusations, saying they were propaganda aimed at demoralizing the parents of the missing soldiers. However, this was not the first time issues had arisen over reclamation of soldiers’ remains and the Army's responsiveness to the requests of families of missing soldiers for information regarding their fate. In April 2003, a group of parents of some of the 619 soldiers reported missing from a battle fought 27 September 1998 obtained permission from the LTTE to travel to the battle site. The families’ previous inquiries at the Defense Ministry, the Sri Lankan Army, and the International Committee of the Red Cross for information on their sons’ fates had been fruitless. At the battlefield they learned that some 500 bodies had been piled together, doused with kerosene, and burnt on the spot by the Sri Lankan Army. Upon their return, a lawsuit was filed on the families’ behalf requesting a mass funeral and DNA testing so Buddhist, Muslim and Christian families could collect their sons’ remains and give them proper burials. The Ministry of Defence organized funeral in 2006, but declined to perform the requested DNA testing. == Killing of prisoners by the LTTE ==

Although it had stated that it abides by the Third Geneva Convention for the treatment of prisoners of war, it has been accused of mass execution and torture of captured soldiers in the Battle of Mullaitivu and in the Battle of Vavunathivu. ==See also==