- Elephant Pass
Elephant Pass, (Tamil: ஆனையிறவு, Sinhala: අලිමංකඩ) Northern Province,
Sri Lanka is an importantmilitary base and formerly the island's largest salt field, located in the gateway ofJaffna Peninsula , Tamils' mainland. It has thus regularly been the site of battles during the civil war.Elephant Pass controls access to the Jaffna Peninsula, therefor it is referred to as the "Gateway to Jaffna". It is very crucial as it is on the
isthmus connecting the peninsula to the Sri Lankan mainland, as well as to territory in the Southern Jaffna peninsula. Elephant Pass connects the militarily significant town ofChavakacheri in theJaffna peninsula to the Sri Lankan mainland.Elephant pass has been a strategic military base since
1760 , when the Portuguese built afort , which was later rebuilt and garrisoned by the Dutch and then the British. A modernmilitary base was built there in1952 by theSri Lankan Army and it was in its control until2000 , despite repeated attempts by theLTTE to capture it in1991 (see "First Battle of Elephant Pass "), the LTTE suffered heavy losses while trying to capture the Elephant pass. However theSri Lankan Army lost control of the Elephant Pass to the LTTE onApril 22 ,2000 after it withdrew from it following theSecond Battle of Elephant Pass , which was a major military loss. [ [http://brcslproject.gn.apc.org/slmonitor/april2000/tiger.html Sri Lanka Monitor ] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/735009.stm BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Sri Lankan army on the ropes ] ] [ [http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/apr2000/sri-a25.shtml Military debacle at Elephant Pass set to trigger political crisis in Sri Lanka ] ] [ [http://brcslproject.gn.apc.org/slmonitor/april2000/tiger.html Sri Lanka Monitor ] ] [ [http://www.socialismtoday.org/48/srilanka.html Socialism Today - Decisive moment in Sri Lanka ] ] .See also
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Place names in Sri Lanka
*Forts of Sri Lanka References
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