LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                12. June 1997

SPECIAL PRESS RELEASE
                                           
DIRECT PAKISTANI MILITARY INVOLVEMENT IN SRI LANKA
	Sri Lanka's "Operation Jaya Sikuru" - the military operation
	currently in progress - was planned jointly with Pakistani
	military officials, according to reliable independent sources.
	Pakistani officials converged at Sri Lanka's Anuradhapura army
	headquarters immediately prior to the launch of the military
	offensive, which has now run into serious difficulties following
	Tuesday's LTTE strike at Thandikulam.
	
SRI LANKA NARROWS FOOD ENTITLEMENTS - 27, 000 TAMILS LEFT OUT
	The Sri Lankan government says only displaced Tamils staying at
	'well-known welfare centres' will be given food. That leaves out
	a staggering 27,000 Tamil refugees, who will face starvation. A
	communiquŽ issued by the commissioner for essential services and
	sent to Mullaitivu's government agent says that anyone who falls
	out of this official category will not be entitled to any help.
	Thousands of Tamils are presently being accommodated by friends
	and relatives while thousands more are in locally-erected
	temporary shelters. Such people, according to the new ruling,
	will go without food as they do not fall into the government's
	designated category. This is a novel way of starving thousands of
	Tamil people while minimising international criticism. We alert
	diplomats to this new ruling, knowingly formulated to hurt Tamil
	civilians.
	
RELIEF IN BATTICALOA AS THREE PLOTE GUNMEN ARE KILLED
	Batticaloa residents breathed a sigh of relief after LTTE forces
	successfully attacked PLOTE's headquarters, killing three cadres.
	Stationed near the Senkalady army camp, PLOTE's armed gang had
	instilled terror in the local Tamil population, extorting money
	and carrying out countless tortures and rapes. PLOTE is one of
	the Tamil groups Sri Lanka likes to hold up as "the democratic
	alternative". But the ordinary Tamil people can confirm the true
	credentials of this terror-organisation which brutalises the
	Tamil people and helps keep them enslaved - all for cash payments
	from the Sri Lankan government. Meanwhile, LTTE forces also
	attacked Senkalady and Kommathurai army camps with mortars. Sri
	Lankan casualties are not known. but the LTTE lost one fighter,
	Thirumoorthy (of Amparai).
	
SIX CHECKPOINTS OVERRUN IN JAFFNA
	Sri Lanka's tenuous hold on the Jaffna peninsula is being
	progressively weakened as LTTE forces stage regular attacks on
	Sri Lankan military targets. Yesterday, six checkpoints and one
	mini army camp were demolished in Thenmaradchy. One Sri Lankan
	soldier died and the rest fled their posts. The LTTE suffered no
	casualties and arms and ammunition was captured.
	
6 SOLDIERS KILLED IN BATTICALOA
	Six Sri Lankan troopers died when LTTE forces intercepted an army
	vehicle in Kinniyady (Batticaloa). After the attack, army
	reinforcements indiscriminately fired in revenge on civilians in
	the area, seriously wounding six Muslims.

325 SRI LANKAN SOLDIERS DIED AT THANDIKULAM
	Despite junior defence minister Ratwatte's determined efforts to
	conceal military casualty figures the LTTE counted no less than
	325 Sri Lankan soldiers dead after the Thandikulam battle. The
	entire Thandikulam camp has now been destroyed. The LTTE lost 80
	LTTE fighters, 21 of whom are women.
	
TRIBUTE TO TAMIL EELAM'S SELFLESS HEROES
	In honour of those who died confronting the Sinhala invasion
	forces at Thandikulam, we begin a list (below) of the 80 LTTE
	fighters who lost their lives, starting with the first 11.
	
	1. Navaratnam Saraswathy
	
	2. Selvaraja Thangaledchumy
	
	3. Kanapathipillai
	
	4. Paramasivam Pakirathan
	
	5. Sothinathan Sureshkumar
	
	6. Mailvaganam Mathivathani
	
	7. Thevasakayam Kanikkaithevi
	
	8. Kuruvasanthan Malini
	
	9. Kumarasamy Supenthini
	
	10. Aseervatham Fatima
	
	11. Elayathamby Pasamalar
	
	More follows...
	
	
Political Committee,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(English translation of the LTTE statement released by
LTTE International Secretariat, 211 Katherine Road, London E6 1BU,
United Kingdom. Tel:0181- 503 4294 / Fax: 0181-470 8593)