Battle of Mullaitivu (1996) 1996
Recorded location from Wikidata; battle sites are often approximate.
About the battle
The Battle of Mullaitivu (Tamil: முல்லைத்தீவுச் சமர், romanized: Mullaittīvup Pōr; Sinhala: මුලතිව් සටන Mulativ Saṭana), also known as the First Battle of Mullaitivu and codenamed Operation Unceasing Waves-1 (Tamil: ஓயாத அலைகள்-1 நடவடிக்கை, romanized: Ōyāta Alaikaḷ-1 Naṭavaṭikkai), was a battle between the militant Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE or Tamil Tigers) and the Sri Lankan military during the Sri Lankan Civil War for control of the military base in Mullaitivu in north-eastern Sri Lanka.
The base which contained an understrength infantry brigade was overrun by the LTTE on 18 July 1996, in the days that followed, a combined operation undertaken by all three armed forces failed to rescue the brigade as it had been completely destroyed by the time the relief force reached what was left of the installations of the 25 "Mullaitivu" Brigade, the Sri Lankan military abandoned the town of Mullaitivu, and control of much of Mullaitivu District, to the LTTE on 25 July 1996. Around 1,500 Sri Lankan troops were killed or unaccounted for (MIA) and large amounts of military equipment captured by the LTTE. 315 LTTE fighters were also killed.
Text adapted from the Wikipedia article Battle of Mullaitivu (1996) (revision 1376916326), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes: excerpted from the article lead section; formatting and citations removed. No text added.
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