The 2008–2009 SLA Northern offensive was an armed conflict in the northern Province of Sri Lanka between the military of Sri Lanka and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The battle began with a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive attempting to break through the LTTE defence lines in the north of the island, aiming to conclude the country's 25-year-old civil war by military victory.
Background
Following the defeat of the LTTE in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka and their retreat to the north in July 2007, the Sri Lankan military set its sights on the separatist-held territory in the north. On 2 January 2008, the government of Sri Lanka unilaterally withdrew from the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), originally signed on 22 February 2002, with the Tamil Tigers. According to Keheliya Rambukwella, a spokesman for the government on defence issues, the "Government of Sri Lanka decided to officially withdraw from the Ceasefire Agreement since it is futile to continue with the Ceasefire with no indication that LTTE is willing to enter the peace path." This set the stage for the Army's attack on the Forward Defence Lines (FDL) in the island's north.
The battle
Probing the LTTE bunker lines
The SLA adopted new operational tactics for the battle opening several battle fronts across LTTE-controlled areas in Vanni. The target of the battle was the Elephant Pass. The Muhamalai, Nagarcoil and Kilali Forward Defence Lines, the three main FDLs in Jaffna district, were hit at the same time along with the FDLs in Vavuniya and Mannar districts. Over the next weeks, Army units were sent towards LTTE bunker lines in an attempt to the positions. By the end of February, although the SLA managed to destroy at least 250 LTTE bunkers, it was only able to advance a few kilometres into LTTE controlled territory. However, the SLA were still slowly advancing on the A-9 highway which directly leads toward Elephant Pass. The SLA issued several calls to the LTTE to surrender before the Army's advances.
On February 20, SLA forces staged its most intense attack on the LTTE bunker lines. In heavy fighting 92 rebels and three soldiers were killed according to the government. Another 20 soldiers were wounded and five bunkers were destroyed. More intense fighting also flared up on March 5. Major engagements all along the de facto border separating territory held by the LTTE occurred and on March 8, SLA troops, backed by helicopter gunships, pushed across the front lines using tanks, mortars and artillery. Eighty four rebels and 11 soldiers were killed during the close-quarters combat over those three days and nine rebel bunkers were destroyed and another four captured.
On March 22, a floating mine or a suicide attack off the northern coast of Sri Lanka killed 10 Sri Lankan seamen. None of their bodies were recovered.
By early April government soldiers were battling tropical illnesses brought on by heavy rains. About 500 troops affected by dengue fever and the mosquito-borne chikungunya virus were being treated at hospitals. Also, their offensive operations against LTTE frontlines stalled.
Mid-April offensive operations against the LTTE continued and dozens of LTTE bunker positions were overrun.
Two days after the failed offensive a bomb exploded on a crowded bus in the capital Colombo killing 24 passengers.
On May 16, a suicide bomber attacked a police bus in the Sri Lankan capital killing 10 people, including eight policemen. By this point an estimated 360 rebels and 41 soldiers had been killed in the month of May according to military sources.
On May 17, the military said it had captured Palampiddi town from the LTTE in Mannar district. A military spokesman said capturing Palampiddi was strategically important because it would block the rebels' supply route between the northern Vavuniya and Mannar districts.
During the rest of May and throughout June heavy fighting continued in which heavy SLA air strikes resulted in the destruction of an LTTE complex in the jungle.
On July 16, Sri Lankan military claimed to have captured a major coastal town, Vidattaltivu, in the Mannar District of northwest Sri Lanka from the Tamil tigers. According to BBC correspondents, Vidattaltivu was an LTTE naval base and a hub for smuggling supplies from India across the Palk Strait. Vidattaltivu is the biggest town situated on Sri Lanka's North-Western coast (Jaffna lies on the north coast) and was a major base of the Sea Tigers. The Sri Lanka Army 58 Division and Commando Brigade took over the town in an attack; it was the first time that the Sri Lankan military was able to capture the town since the Indian Peacekeeping Force left Sri Lanka in 1990. The commandos of Sri Lanka's Army initially faced resistance from 60 LTTE cadres. But the LTTE soon started a withdrawal towards Iluppakkadavai as it came under heavy artillery and rocket fire. Later, the Sri Lankan military claimed over 30 LTTE cadres had been killed for the loss of just one soldier. Sri Lankan troops approaching from the east of Vidattaltivu cut off the Mannar-Poonaryn Road. Finally, the troops marched into the town and captured it after 21 years. Following the capture of the town, the Sri Lankan air force attacked withdrawing Tamil Tigers. According to the Air Force of Sri Lanka, Mi-24 helicopter gunships sank two LTTE boats 4 km north of Vidattaltivu around 1:00 PM local time.
Breaking the LTTE defence line
On September 2, SLA forces managed to break through LTTE defences and captured the town of Mallavi which was regarded as a "nerve centre" for the Tamil Tigers. Some 20 SLA soldiers and more than 100 Tigers were killed during the battle for the town.
The same day, the LTTE conducted a counter-attack against advancing SLA troops to regain their lost bunker lines. The Army claimed to have killed 52 and wounded 65 Tiger fighters. As for the SLA casualties suffered during the counter-attack the military said that they had seven soldiers killed, seven missing and 50 wounded while the LTTE claimed to have killed 75 soldiers and wounded 100.
After the taking of Mallavi the SLA started an advance on the rebels' de facto capital of Kilinochchi.
On September 9, LTTE suicide fighters, known as Black Tigers, conducted a raid on a military base in Vavuniya in coordination with two LTTE bomber planes and a Tiger artillery barrage, which totalled 70 shells. The raid left 25 people dead: 12 soldiers, 11 Tigers, one policeman and one civilian.
Since early September, heavy fighting had been raging for the town of Nachchikuda, both on land and sea. At least 29 soldiers were killed during that battle along with 100 to 200 Tigers in the month of September, according to the military. Dozens more died in October and the sea port, which was a vital base for the LTTE's Sea Tigers, finally fell on October 30.
By October 12, the SLA had come within 2 kilometres from the outskirts of Kilinochchi. The LTTE were preparing to defend the city with a string of concrete bunkers and trenches in a heavily mined jungle surrounding the town.
The west coast falls and Kilinochchi is surrounded
Between October 18 and October 20, heavy fighting raged on the outskirts of Kilinochchi, with SLA troops attempting to break through LTTE bunker lines. During these two days 36 SLA soldiers were killed and 48 were wounded in contrast to 12 Tamil Tiger fighters killed. This resulted in the deaths of some soldiers and the sickening of others. The military was not able to break through the remaining LTTE bunker lines situated before the city, due to heavy rain. Furthermore, most of the Sri Lankan army soldiers were needed to secure rebel territory taken in the previous two months after the LTTE's retreat to the north. With SLA forces stretched, that territory was coming under hit-and-run attacks by the rebels. Even the Sri Lankan Air Force was not able to dislodge the rebels from their positions on the roads into Kilinochchi. The city had, by this point, been evacuated of all civilians and the LTTE were preparing bunker positions within the town. Earlier in the month the SLA had stated they would take the rebel capital within days; however more than two weeks later operation maps at press briefings showed they were still 10 to 15 kilometres from the town, in contrast with their previous statements of being only two kilometres from Kilinochchi.
By mid-November SLA forces had managed to clear the entire west coast of LTTE cadres. By November 17, the SLA had captured three more strategic towns: Maankulam, Pandiyankulam and Pooneryn. Maankulam and Pooneryn had been in LTTE hands for the previous nine years. 54 soldiers were killed and another 350 wounded in the battle for Pooneryn, which fell after SLA forces advanced on the Pooneryn-Paranthan road. At the same time an offensive was conducted on the Muhamalai front. There, the SLA were attempting to break through the LTTE forward defence lines. Half a dozen attacks were repulsed by the LTTE leaving hundreds of casualties among government forces. In three days between November 16 and November 19, 200 SLA soldiers were reported to have been killed and another 700 wounded in battles across the north of the country. Some opposition lawmakers put the number at 250 killed. A Sri Lankan military source said the SLA Command in Jaffna had lost contact with two battalions. However, despite this, the SLA managed to break through the first line of the LTTE's defence on the Muhamalai fort front on November 20, which gave the SLA another 800 yards. This left the LTTE with two more lines of defence at Muhamalai.
Battle for Kilinochchi
In December, three unsuccessful SLA offensives were conducted in an attempt to take the capital of the Tigers, Kilinochchi. In early January, however, the town was taken by the SLA.
On December 10, an offensive was blunted with the deaths of 89 SLA soldiers according to a LTTE affiliated website, versus SLA reported deaths of 20 soldiers and 27 Tigers.
On December 16, a multi-front offensive was launched by the SLA against Kilinochchi. That offensive too was defeated by the Tigers. According to the Tigers the SLA lost two battalions of troops, 170 soldiers dead and 420 wounded. The SLA denied this and claimed to have had only 25 soldiers killed, 18 missing (LTTE pictures released after the battle confirmed at least 27 bodies of soldiers in their hands) and 160 wounded while they killed 120 Tigers. In any case, it was a critical victory for the Tigers at a time when they were being squeezed into the last pockets of territory they were holding. Such stiff resistance was not expected from the LTTE so late in the battle. This was mainly because the LTTE now deployed their best Special Forces members against the SLA's might, which had been held back earlier.
On December 20, an LTTE counter-offensive was mounted by the Tigers as SLA forces were preparing an attempt to attack and capture the village of Iranamadu, just south of the city. In the fighting that ensued the Tigers claimed to have killed 60 and wounded 150 SLA soldiers and pushed them back by two kilometres. The military again reported lower numbers of dead, 28 killed and missing.
On January 2, 2009, the Sri Lankan army troops entered the town of Kilinochchi from two sides. The intensity of fighting after the army entered the town remained unknown as both army and LTTE had banned independent reporters from the areas. The Sri Lankan Army met with only minimal resistance once it entered the town, as the Tigers had withdrawn and taken hiding positions in nearby jungles. It had been more than 10 years since the government had previously entered the town. Later, the military officially announced it had taken control of the town and were performing mopping-up operations.
Fall of Elephant Pass and Mullaittivu
On January 9, 2009, the LTTE's defence line in the Jaffna peninsula collapsed and SLA units from the north captured the strategic Elephant Pass base, which had been under LTTE control for almost nine years. LTTE fighters provided only minimal resistance to the advancing troops and instead retreated toward Mullaittivu in the northeast of the island, the last major town held by the LTTE, to where LTTE forces from Kilinochchi had already retreated.