Military says no intention to capture Sampur LTTE camp

Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said thirteen soldiers and at least seventy four rebels were killed when the army, navy and air force launched a fresh assault on Tamil Tiger stronhold Sampur Town, near the port of Trincomalee.

"Our soldiers have seen at least 27 dead bodies of Tamil Tigers between Thoppur and Selvanagar," he told bbcsinhala.com.

'Targetting' Sampur

The Tigers said at least eighty people, including twenty civilians, were killed in intense shelling and air strikes around Sampur.

I think their objective is to capture Sampur which they have already said a threat to the Trincomalee harbour LTTE spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan

Independent verification of casualty figures from both sides is impossible.

LTTE military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said that the offensive was aimed at capturing their camp in Sampur.

"I think their objective is to capture Sampur which they have already said a threat to the Trincomalee harbour," he told BBC Sandeshaya.

200,000 displaced

The new offensive is also aimed at dividing northern and eastern provinces in Sri Lanka by capturing Sampur, Ilanthirayan added.

Temporary submersion of the two adjoining provinces has been a controversial issue since Indo-Lanka accord signed in 1987.

We are not targeting Sampur LTTE camp. Aim of the defensive operation is to destroy artillery guns stationed in Sampur Military spokesman Brigadier Samarasinghe

But Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe denied that the forces are targeting an LTTE camp.

"We are not targeting Sampur LTTE camp. Aim of the defensive operation is to destroy artillery guns stationed in Sampur” he told BBC Sandeshaya.

The past month has seen the worst violence since the 2002 ceasefire between the government and rebels.

Hundreds of fighters and civilians have been killed and more than two-hundred-thousand people have fled their homes.