[ad#200×200]Troops of Sri Lanka Army 57 division today (Dec 1) reached long awaited milestone on their march into terrorist dens in Wanni with the liberation of the Kokavil town.
According to the battlefield sources, troops launched an offensive early last morning extending their forward boundaries towards east of the A-9 (Jaffna-Kandy) road. Infantrymen of the 57 division first reached the A-9 at a location few kilometers north of the Kokavil town and then turned the thrust southwards destroying all remaining LTTE strongholds down to Mankulam.
This is the first time after 18 years Army gained full control over this area, the sources added.
Kokavil recalls the memory of Lieutenant Saliya Upul Aladeniya , the heroic commander who was the last officer in charge of the isolated camp Kokavil in 1990. With only two platoons in hand , Lieutenant Aladeniya defended his camp for one month without any reinforcement, or casualty evacuation before LTTE overran it in July 1990. When he was asked to abandon the camp leaving the casualties behind at one stage of the battle, he refused to do so and chose to fight to the last. Lieutenant Aladeniya was posthumously conferred with the Parama Weera Vibhushanaya (PWV) , the highest award for the gallantry at the battlefield. He was the first officer to be so awarded.
Ministry of Defence