The Army arrested five people, including K Vimalasenathirasa, 17, in Jaffna town in mid-December. The Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission (HRC) received a compliant that four Kodikamam students went missing in December. HRC’s Jaffna co-ordinator S Sritharan was threatened with death in early December. A letter from unidentified persons accuses him of links with the LTTE. Mr Sritharan was transferred to Vavuniya in late December.
In a new phase of Operation Oyatha Alaigal III (Unceasing Waves), the LTTE launched attacks on 11 December in an attempt to capture the heavily fortified Elephant Pass military base, lying at the entrance to the Jaffna peninsula on Vavuniya-Jaffna road. The Tigers landed troops by sea on the eastern coast of the peninsula and established a three-mile beach-head, taking the important Army supply base at Vetrilaikerni, five miles north-east of Elephant Pass.
Reports say the Tigers shot down an Airforce helicopter using surface-to-air missile and attacked Paranthan junction, seven miles south of Elephant Pass. The Army have withdrawn to a more secure position north of Paranthan, but have come under heavy mortar fire. In an attempt to isolate Elephant Pass, the Tigers launched attacks on the east and west of the camp and also on Iyakachchi, two miles north.
Airforce planes bombed Kerativu and Thanankilappu on 31 December. Security forces say that they prevented a Tiger amphibious attack on Kerativu, south-east of Jaffna town. Fighting around Elephant Pass continued in early January but the LTTE was unable to make any significant headway.
The 11 December attack on Elephant Pass camp was accompanied by a Tiger announcement urging people living near military bases in coastal areas of Jaffna to move to safer areas. The LTTE began shelling Thenmaratchy and the Army retaliated by shelling Sea Tigers in Jaffna lagoon. The Sri Lankan Airforce bombed coastal areas.
Reports say eight civilians were killed by Tiger shells and 16 were wounded in Thenmaratchy. As LTTE artillery fire continued, some 4,000 people fled from Chavakachcheri and Kodikamam. Jaffna Government Agent K Shanmuganathan says 800 people have taken refuge in the Chavakachcheri hospital. On the night of 14 December, a shell hit the hospital damaging the building.