Troops advance in Kokavil area

Kokavil: Troops attach- ed to the 574 Brigade advancing in the general area of Kokavil to the south of Kilinochchi by yesterday afternoon closed in on the Kokavil town centre perimeter where the famous Kokavil SLRC (Sri Lanka Rupavahini Cooperation) transmission tower stands.

The area fell to the LTTE hands in November 1990 after the terrorists launched an attack on the Army detachment at the SLRC tower.

During that fateful military thrust, the Army detachment remained isolated after it was cut off from the rest of the deployments in the area.

The imminent fall of the entire Kokavil into the Army hands at any moment deprives the terrorists of using this site in the future.

Officer Commanding at Kokavil Army camp, Lieutenant S.U Aladeniya was posthumously awarded the highest valour in combat, the gallantry medal “Parama Weera Vibushana” (PWV) for his fight against Tiger terrorists valiantly without reinforcements until his camp was destroyed by the terrorists on 11th July 1990.

He received orders to abandon the camp, but he refused to do so as the majority of his troops were injured by then and completely immobile.

He was the first to be nominated for this prestigious PWV upon his supreme sacrifice.