`Thoppigala was a vast jungle area there was no need to occupy the area.

According to sources billions of dollars worth of bombs and shells fired into jungles.
unlimited bombs droped from air into jungle. one should wonder where are all these money spend and why are they spend.

Commic keheliya the joker boasted that even IPKF couldnt capture the thopigala.
in reply the the IPKF Maj gen said. thopigala is a jungle it had training camps, prisons,and hospitals, we had went in and attacked those and came back.
what is the point in occupying jungle? there is nothing to occupy.

it was like smake in the face of srilankan government.
sinhalese are fooled by the government and billions of dollars are spend to distroy jungles.

in short the Indian Maj Gen hinted ` we are not stupid as sinhala governmnet.

Keheliya Rambukwella: said even IPKF could not occupy Thoppigala , Indian army chief said `Thoppigala was a vast jungle area which had hospitals, prisons and training camps I have personally led operations to destroy these facilities. But we always came back to base, as there was no need to occupy the area. There was nothing to occupy!`

Indian Army did not take Thoppigala: Maj Gen Mehta

The Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF), which battled the LTTE in North-East Sri Lanka from July 1987 to March 1990, did conduct operations in the Thoppigala jungles, but made no attempt to occupy the area because it had no strategic significance, a former area commander, Maj Gen Ashok Mehta told Hindustan Times on Thursday.

Gen Mehta`s remarks are significant in the context of a claim by the Sri Lankan Defence spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella, on Wednesday, that the IPKF could not occupy Thoppigala even though it had deployed 20,000 troops.

`Thoppigala was a vast jungle area which did not lie on any major line of communication. It was basically a hide out for the LTTE. It had hospitals, prisons and training camps. I have personally led operations to destroy these facilities. But we always came back to base, as there was no need to occupy the area. There was nothing to occupy!` Gen.Mehta, who led Indian troops in the Eastern districts of Batticaloa and Amparai, said.

But this was contradicted by the LTTE`s military spokesman, Rasaiah Ilanthirayan, who told an Australian radio station, that the IPKF had set up camps in Thoppigala.

Cost of occupation

Taking and retaining Thoppigala will be costly, both in men and material, independent military experts say. But since the Sri Lankan government is hell bent on militarily defeating the LTTE, it would go ahead regardless of the cost, they added.

Ilanthirayan had told Tamilnet recently, that the Sri Lankan Army was walking into a `trap` as the LTTE`s withdrawals were `strategic` in nature.

He admitted that the Sri Lankan Army had entered the Thoppigala area, but maintained that only the future would be able to say if the government`s assertions were well founded. As regards the LTTE`s plans he said: `At the moment we can only say that we are recasting our plans for the East.`

Lankan army gung ho

However, the Sri Lankan Army is gung ho about its achievements and prospects.

`We have already taken 700 sq.km of Thoppigala, and have only about 7 to 8 km to go before the whole place is under our control,` said Army spokesman, Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe, on Thursday.

But independent military observers say that the progress has been slow. There is stiff resistance by the LTTE and the terrain has been difficult. `If it is a walk over, why the did the Air Force pound the area on Wednesday and Thursday?` asked Iqbal Athas of The Sunday Times.