LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                14. March 1997


PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM

MULLAITIVU LIES TRAUMATISED AFTER DAY-LONG ASSAULT
        Sri Lanka yesterday launched co-ordinated military strikes on
        residential areas of Mullaitivu killing many civilians,
        destroying homes and creating yet another flow of refugees. The
        attack - using air, ground and naval forces - terrorised coastal
        and interior Tamil villages for a full 8 hours. Residents are
        still reeling in shock from the ferocity of the onslaught.
        
        It began at 5.30 in the morning with long- and medium- range
        artillery fire targeted at ordinary villages. Later, navy
        gunboats in the eastern seas fired cannons directly at coastal
        settlements which house mainly Tamil fishing families. Most homes
        between Alampil and Challai  - on the northeastern coast - have
        been damaged beyond repair. The renowned St. Vellankanni Catholic
        Church has also been blasted to rubble.
        
        There has been an exodus of people - joining the swelling ranks
        of the Vanni displaced - clambering to safer places inland,
        mainly Uduppukulam, Kumulamunai, Thaneerutu and Mulliyawallai. An
        array of devastated fishing villages meanwhile lie deserted.
        
        Air attacks on the interior began at 7.30am. Puccaras dropped
        bombs and unleashed rockets on selected civilian concentrations
        then ran another sortie at 12.15pm. Kfirs accomplished the same
        mission first at 8.00am and again at 10.55am.
        
        The firing from all quarters was relentless the whole day with
        Mullaitivu treated effectively as a 'free-strike zone'. The scene
        among the people was one of unbridled panic and disorder. People
        are still visibly shaken with many children badly traumatised.
        
        The government's official claim of targeting LTTE bases is
        totally false. Each and every target struck has been a civilian
        one. This could quite easily be verified were Sri Lanka to permit
        journalists to the north.
        
        Many civilians all over Mullaitivu have lost their lives and a
        great many have received severe injuries in what amounts to a
        cynical move calculated to help the government win upcoming local
        elections by pointing to an apparent military 'success'. The
        political strategies that underlie such military operations
        proves, if anything, the perverse immunity Sri Lanka has to the
        suffering of Tamils. It is a government consistently willing to
        buy Sinhala votes with Tamil people's blood.

EARLY CASUALTY REPORTS
        Although civilian casualty figures from yesterday's Mullaitivu
        assault are still being compiled, it is confirmed that Kfir
        bombers yesterday killed at least two elderly men and critically
        injured at least three others in the interior village of
        Oddusuddan. The whole of the village was flattened. Nearby
        forests were set ablaze and cattle killed in an increasingly
        common attack-pattern. The same Kfir also struck at the Tamil
        village of Nedunkerni critically injuring one person.
        Below are fuller details:


        Early civilian casualty figures from Sri Lankan assault on
        Mullaitivu, 13th March 1997


    CIVILIAN        INCIDENT           AGE - SEX   RELATIVES     LOCATION

1. Rathinam         killed  by          70    m                  Oddusuddan
                    Kfir bomber

2. Sinnathamby      killed by           56    m                  Oddusuddan 
   Thangavelautham  Kfir bomber

3. Ponnar           critically wounded  45    m                  Oddusuddan
   Mahendiran       by Kfir bomber

4. Kamalanayaki     critically wounded        
   Mahendiran       by Kfir bomber       -     f    wife of no.3  Oddusuddan 

5. Kamalavel        critically wounded   2     m   son of no.3&4  Oddusuddan
   Mahendiran       by Kfir bomber

6. Santhiramohan    critically wounded   19     m                  Nedunkerni
                    by Kfir bomber

YOUNG WOMEN SHOT DEAD AND LEFT ON ROADSIDE BY ARMY
        Two Tamil women in their early twenties have been found gunned
        down on a roadside in Vavuniya within range of the Sri Lankan
        army camp. The bodies of Kumaraswamy Sujitha (aged 24) and
        Mekanathan Jeyasutha (aged 22) were sighted on the Vavuniya Town
        Road, close to the camp. Sujitha was originally from Neervelly
        North (Jaffna) while Jeyasutha was from Rampaikulam (Vavuniya).
        Several more bullet-struck bodies have been discovered in
        army-controlled Vavuniya in the past two weeks.

5 CHECKPOINTS WIPED OUT - VAVUNIYA
        The LTTE has overrun five Sri Lankan sentry points in
        Sallampaikulam (Vavuniya district). The attack was launched at
        2.15am and the confrontation lasted just 15 minutes during which
        two Sri Lankan soldiers and no LTTE fighters died. Six more
        soldiers were critically injured while the remainder fled.
 

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)