Sri Lanka launches massive manhunt to recover LTTE weapons

Having vanquished the LTTE, the Sri Lankan Army has launched a massive manhunt to recover their weapons, especially claymore mines and other destructive explosives, in the northern areas to facilitate the early resettlement of displaced Tamils in their towns and villages.

"The army fears that LTTE has buried stockpiles of explosives and weapons in the thick jungles of Wanni," military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara told visiting Indian journalists here.

After having accounted for most of the top LTTE leadership in the just-concluded long military campaign, he said the military was now focused on tracing the whereabouts of the large number of "sleeper cells" of the Tigers. He said there are no signs of the presence of LTTE cadres in the northern areas liberated from the outfit last month.

"We are recovering claymore mines, hand grenades and other ammunition which are either hidden or abandoned by the Tamil Tigers. We still suspect that there are huge quantities of weapons in the areas. We are searching the places thoroughly," he said.

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