Eelam War III also marked the rising success of the LTTE, as they managed to capture key districts such as Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, and took over the Elephant Pass base.

With the path clear towards the Muhumalai and Nagarkovil FDLs, the LTTE launched Operation Unceasing Waves IV in efforts to capture the Jaffna peninsula.

[7][8] According to several survivors interviewed by Amnesty International, 13 women and 7 children below the age of 12, were killed by soldiers from the 58th mile post and Dehiwatte army camps.

According to survivors, there was a significant presence of female cadres among the 75 LTTE cadres who took part in the killings In August 2001, S. P. Thamilselvan, the leader of the political wing of the Tamil Tigers, accused the Sri Lankan Army of intentionally abandoning the bodies of nearly a thousand soldiers on the battlefields since May, despite the Tamils’ request that the Red Cross act as an intermediate.

Thamilselvan did not offer a reason for the army's refusal, but did note that several hundred decomposing bodies remained in a minefield due to the danger of extracting them.

A Sri Lankan military spokesman, Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne, acknowledged that the army cannot always retrieve a body because it might cost more lives, but denied the Tamil accusations, saying they were propaganda aimed at demoralizing the parents of the missing soldiers.

The families’ previous inquiries at the Defense Ministry, the Sri Lankan Army, and the International Committee of the Red Cross for information on their sons’ fates had been fruitless.