Over 800 Tigers overran Vavunativu Army camp, after blasting Valaiyiravu bridge which links Batticaloa town to LTTE-controlled Paduvankarai area west of the lagoon. The Tigers shelled Army’s Third Brigade headquarters in Batticaloa town, to prevent reinforcements, killing three and injuring 16 others. The LTTE set up long-range artillery guns captured from the Army, on nearby Erumaitivu (Buffalo Island). After removing a large quantity of weapons, the Tigers blasted the camp with explosives. Batticaloa Government Agent (GA) AK Pathmanathan says over 5,200 families are displaced following the offensive.
The same day, Black Tiger suicide squads breached heavy defences at China Bay airbase close to Trincomalee, 60 miles north, destroying a Chinese Y12 aircraft. The runway was damaged. The LTTE withdrew after Airforce helicopters from Anuradhapura airbase launched an attack. Observers say the attack on these heavily defended strategic military bases indicate the growing strength of the Tigers in the east and the inability of the military to respond mainly because of major troop withdrawals for northern operations.
The security forces responded with Operation Thrivida Seraya (Three forces power) in Mullaitivu on 13 March. While the Navy shelled coastal areas, the Airforce bombed the jungles. The military claims that LTTE leader V Prabhakaran’s One-Four Base headquarters was destroyed. Hundreds of civilians including fishermen fled the coastal areas. Ten LTTE boats were destroyed by the Navy off Mullaitivu when the Tigers attempted to intercept a naval convoy from Trincomalee on 24 March. The Navy says 100 Sea Tigers were killed.
Following the China Bay attack, the Petroleum Corporation suspended the use of the harbour jetty, forcing civilians to use small boats to join ships for Jaffna. Currently the only route to Jaffna for civilians is by ship from Trincomalee, although reports say the government may begin a shipping service from Mannar.
Over 12,000 people remain in Trincomalee due to return to Jaffna from the 57,000 civilians who have crossed the Vavuniya checkpoint fleeing Tiger control since last October. Most of them want to move south to Colombo to escape the war or get money from relatives abroad. Relief workers estimate fewer than 4,000 have been cleared to travel to the capital while the Tiger suicide bomber threat continues. Faced with the alternative of limbo in insanitary camps in Vavuniya many people reluctantly agree to return to Jaffna.
Around 600 people arrive from Vavuniya daily but only 1,200 are able to leave for Jaffna weekly. Trincomalee Regional Secretary V Velum Mayilum says security clearance for only 5,000 of the 12,000 has been received from intelligence agencies. Private residences and lodges are full and some refugees are now accommodated in local government offices where facilities are minimal. Observers say a high level conference in Colombo on 2 April concentrated more on expediting travel to Jaffna rather than facilities for the thousands held up.
Travel from Vavuniya to Trincomalee has become a nightmare. Reports say only two carriages in the Vavuniya-Colombo Rajarata Rajini train have been allocated for refugees and 125 people are packed into each carriage which can accommodate only 88. The carriages have no water or other facilities and the train has been dubbed by the Colombo press as the “torture train”. A bus carrying refugees crashed in early March at Horowupotana, 30 miles south-east of Vavuniya. Twenty nine people were seriously injured and Point Pedro resident Annamalai Manickam, 87, died in hospital.
The misery of the refugees continues after they arrive in Trincomalee. They have to live in crowded and appalling conditions. UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardena who visited Trincomalee says camp conditions are sub-human and refugees lack basic facilities. Human rights activists say the two camps allocated for those arriving from Vavuniya are overflowing and fear the spread of disease. There were over 2,600 in the Glass Factory and the Sangamitha Tourist Home refugee camps in late March.
In mid-March security officers rejected the Uppuveli Technical College building for use as an additional camp. Local government officers have been instructed to find a secure building to prevent people escaping. The Northern Province Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority (NPRRA) has appointed a team of seven members to expedite return of the displaced Jaffna people.
Meanwhile the Army arrested four men and a woman at the refugee camp at 4th Mile Post on 11 March. They were released two days later. The 1,770 refugees in this camp were returned from refugee camps in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu between 1992 and 1996.