So far this year, the LTTE have lost nearly 4,000 fighters (killed, captured, deserted). The army has suffered over 300 dead, and over a thousand wounded. There are also several hundred deserters, but as many, or more, deserters return these days. The army has 150,000 troops, with about half of them covering over 100 kilometers of front line up north. Most of the LTTE fighters man bunkers along that front line.
But the thing that really keeps the army from just marching into LTTE territory is the existence of several hundred experienced LTTE fighters, who have been able to defeat the soldiers consistently in the past. This reserve force rushes in whenever the army advances too far, and inflicts lots of casualties.
Eventually, the army will have to take on this elite force, but the strategy is to use artillery and air power to pick apart the LTTE front line force to the point where the elite reserve force will have to be either broken up to man the front line bunkers, or be forced back to a small bit of territory that can be blown to bits with artillery and bombs.
The army strategy is based on the fact that the trends are going against the LTTE. The rebels are getting less money, less ammo, and are losing more fighters each month, with no source of replacements or reinforcements. Tamil civilians are often being forced to man the bunkers along the front line. Threats against the families of these reluctant warriors keeps them on the job.
Read more,
http://www.strategypage.com/qnd/srilank/articles/20080528.aspx
