The Battle of Kilinochchi (codenamed Operation Unceasing Waves II by the Tamil Tigers) was a battle that occurred in September 1998 for the control of the city of Kilinochchi

Kilinochchi

Kilinochchi is a city in the Kilinochchi District, part of the Northern Province of Sri Lanka. Kilinochchi is situated at the A9 road some south-east of Jaffna...

 in Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...

 (geographical coordinates 9.383333°N 80.4°W). The battle was fought between the Sri Lankan Army

Sri Lankan Army

The Sri Lanka Army is the oldest and largest of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and is responsible for land-based military and humanitarian operations. Established as the Ceylon Army in 1949, it was renamed when Sri Lanka became a republic in 1972...

 (SLA) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was a separatist militant organization formerly based in northern Sri Lanka. Founded in May 1976 by Vellupillai Prabhakaran, it waged a violent secessionist and nationalist campaign to create an independent state in the north and east of Sri Lanka for Tamil...

 (LTTE).

The battle

On September 27, 1998, the LTTE launched operation Unceasing Waves II, an offensive against the town of Kilinochchi. They assaulted the Sri Lankan Army's Kilinochchi complex, ten miles south of the Elephant Pass base. The following day, the Tigers captured a distance of five miles on Jaffna-Vavuniya road. Elephant Pass and Paranthan military bases, further north, were also attacked to block reinforcements. Merciless fighting continued until September 29, 1998 when Kilinochchi finally fell to the Tigers. The Sri Lankan Army claimed that up to 520 Tigers and 443 SLA soldiers were killed in the close-quarters and hand to hand fighting over two days. On the same day that Kilinochchi fell to the Tigers the city of Mankulam, which was rebel-held, fell to the SLA. So it was a win and a loss for the army the same day.

See also

• 2008–2009 Battle of Kilinochchi
  2008–2009 Battle of Kilinochchi
  The Battle of Kilinochchi was a land battle fought between the Sri Lankan Military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the control of the town of Kilinochchi in the Northern Theater of Eelam War IV during the Sri Lankan civil war between November 2008 and January 2009...
  
  
• Operation Unceasing Waves I
• Operation Unceasing Waves III
• List of Sri Lankan Civil War battles