Battle of Kilinochchi (1998)


The Battle of Kilinochchi was a battle that occurred in September 1998 for the control of the city of Kilinochchi in Sri Lanka. The battle was fought between the Sri Lankan Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The battle

On September 27, 1998, the LTTE launched operation Unceasing Waves II, an offensive against the town of Kilinochchi. They assaulted the Sri Lankan Army's Kilinochchi complex, ten miles south of the Elephant Pass base. The following day, the Tigers captured a distance of five miles on Jaffna-Vavuniya road. Elephant Pass and Paranthan military bases, further north, were also attacked to block reinforcements. Merciless fighting continued until September 29, 1998, when Kilinochchi finally fell to the Tigers. The Sri Lankan Army claimed that up to 520 Tigers and 443 SLA soldiers were killed in the close-quarters and hand-to-hand fighting over two days. On the same day that Kilinochchi fell to the Tigers the city of Mankulam, which was rebel-held, fell to the SLA.