Colombo, January 30: The Sri Lankan army Wednesday smashed through the forward defence lines of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels over a wide area in the northern district of Jaffna. "In a successful operation, troops of the 55 and 53 Divisions broke through the LTTE's defences along the Nagarkoil-Muhamalai-Kilali line and completely destroyed 20 of the 35 bunkers they had attacked," military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said.

T-55 tanks were also used in a subsequent operation. In all, 30 rebels were killed and a large stock of arms and ammunition seized.

Seven soldiers were wounded in action, the spokesman said.

On Tuesday, police had intercepted a government owned ambulance van carrying nearly 4.5 kg of the explosive C4 in Vavuniya in north Sri Lanka. The van was coming from Kilinochchi, which is the LTTE headquarters.

The military spokesman said the explosive was hidden in a shoe.

He added that the LTTE was planning to use ice cream vendors to carry out bombings aimed at civilians in Colombo.
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