ABSTRACT
The Elephant Pass camp fell to the LTTE in 2000. This chapter explores the final campaign of Eelam War III, Operation Agnikheela, in which the SLA attempted to recover this iconic camp. This effort was abandoned after its first phase, as negotiations for a new cease-fire agreement gathered pace. Based on a narrative of the first phase of Agnikheela, which involved taking the Pallai Junction, this chapter describes the way in which the LTTE – which had virtually hemmed in SLA troops in their camps, making it almost impossible for them to break out – managed to ensnare around 500 troops of three units almost as soon as they did, in a pocket of land in Muhamalai. They then proceeded to bombardment them from all directions. SLA troops succeeded in escaping after three days. The chapter goes on to discuss the fraught relationship between SLA troops, LTTE fighters and civilians in the SLA-occupied and the LTTE-occupied areas. Despite being relentlessly shelled, civilians struggled desperately to reach SLA lines rather than allowing the LTTE to herd them into the Vanni.
