In early October the Army secured Karappukuthi, eight miles south-east of Mankulam. Thereafter, accompanied by artillery and aerial bombing, troops advanced in three fronts westward. In a counter-attack on 13 October, the LTTE captured arms worth Rs 150 million. The Army, however retained a section of the Mankulam-Oddusuddan road cutting-off a supply route to LTTE’s nerve centre - Mullaitivu.
In late October Deputy Defence minister Anuruddha Ratwatte claimed for the third time in two years that Tiger leader Prabhakaran’s 1-4 Base in Mullaitivu jungles was destroyed. The Airforce sunk a Tiger supply ship off Mullaitivu on 2 November. Reports say substantial quantities of arms had been unloaded before the attack.
Airforce planes bombed Peraru in Oddusuddan, 15 miles south-west of Mullaitivu on 13 October killing seven people including four refugees from Jaffna. Mullaitivu Government Agent R Tharmakulasingham says continuous Army shelling and Airforce bombing has led to chaos. No food is currently sent to the district by the Essential Services Commissioner and only two-weeks’ food is available. According to Kilinochchi GA Thillainadarajah, the entire population is suffering because of the fighting and the reduction in government’s food aid from May.
Mr Ratwatte announced in early October that local elections in Jaffna will be held in January. London Guardian correspondent Suzanne Goldenberg who visited the peninsula says daily life under the gaze of 25,000 Sri Lankan soldiers, who cannot speak Tamil, remains precarious and the Army has lost its battle for hearts and minds.
The LTTE attacked the Army at Sarasalai on 6 October killing a soldier. The bodies of three civilians washed ashore at Velanai on the same day. The body of Manoharan Jayanthan shot dead by the Army in Chunnakam on 26 September was handed over to the parents in October.
Over 2,000 fishermen in Gurunagar are protesting over new restrictions after the Army discovered smuggling of banned goods. The three mile sea limit for fishing has now been reduced to 300 metres. Fishermen say that the Army is forcibly taking 10% of their fish.
In mid-October three members of the new Human Rights Commission visited Jaffna for the first time for discussions. Jaffna’s Guardian Association for Persons Arrested and Disappeared says only one name from their list of over 600 disappeared appears in the government’s list of 170 released detainees.