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| Battle of Puthukkudiyirippu | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part ofSri Lankan Civil War, 2008–2009 SLA Northern offensive | |||||||||
.png) Map of Mullaitivu front depicting events of the Battle of Puthukkudiyiruppu (February 2009) | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Sri Lanka |  Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Lt. GenSarath Fonseka:BrigShavendra Silva[2]Maj. GenKamal Gunaratne[3]ColG.V. Ravipriya[3] | Velupillai Prabhakaran:Pottu AmmanColonel Theepan †Colonel Bhanu[2]Vidusha † Durga † | ||||||||
| Units involved | |||||||||
| Unknown | |||||||||
| Strength | |||||||||
| Unknown | Unknown | ||||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||||
| Low | High[1] | ||||||||
TheBattle Of Puthukkudiyirippu was a land battle fought between theSri Lankan Military,58 Division,53 Division andTask Force 8 and theLiberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the control of the last stronghold held by the LTTE. This battle is a part of theNorthern Theatre ofEelam War IV during theSri Lankan civil war.[4]
The Battle of Puthukkudiyirippu was an armed confrontation over control over the AGA division ofPuthukkudiyirippu in Sri Lanka between the 55, 58th and 53rd Division of the Sri Lankan Military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) during the Sri Lankan civil war, fought from the first months of 2009 till the end of April 2009. Puthukkudiyirippu was the final LTTE base held by the LTTE during the Northern Theatre of Eelam War IV.[5]
The battle of Puthukkudiyirippu was different from other battles because the area was an urban terrain. Both parties adopted hit and run strategies until a decisive battle was fought inAnandapuram junction where more than 600 LTTE carders and an array of top leaders were killed in five days.[6][7] A major tiger offensive was met with a counter offensive, outflanking and encircling an entire division of LTTE in an area of 2 square kilometers.[5]
LTTE lost all their best fighters they ever had in one single battle.[8]