Battle of Pooneryn | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Sri Lankan civil war | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Military of Sri Lanka | Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Cecil Waidyaratne, Rohan Daluwatte, T.T.R. de Silva U. Hemapala † |
Theepan Bhanu (Tamil militant) | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
241 killed, 500 wounded,400 missing (SL Government claims)[1] A Pucara and 2 helicopters was damaged [2] [3] |
~500 killed (SL Government claims) 460 killed (LTTE claims) [4] |
The Battle of Pooneryn (LTTE code-named Operation Thavalai Paachchal (Frog Leap)) took place 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 Pooneryn in northern Sri Lanka from 11 November to 14 November 1993.
The LTTE launched a surprise attack, code-named Operation Thavalai (Frog), on the government-controlled area of Pooneryn, overrunning the garrison and capturing military hardware before withdrawing against military reinforcements introduced through sea borne landings.[5]