Omanthai Crossing Point is the closest Sri Lanka has to an internal border crossing. The openings and closures are one of the wide array of symptoms used to monitor the pulse of the “situation”. In the news Omanthai is the most frequently mentioned crossing point into LTTE controlled areas. There seems to be 3 check points operated by
- the Sri Lankan Military to the south, (seen in the picture below)
- the LTTE to the north
- the International Red Cross in between
Omanthai Crossing Point Sri Lankan Government Post
Omanthai crossing point looking southward
The image below could be of either the Red Cross post or the LTTE post. There are faint road like lines/paths extending east and west of the main road. Could be the forward defence line (FDLs) which someone more knowledgeable might be able to clarify.
Compound north of the main cluster of Omanthai crossing point posts
This could be a LTTE compound as it is in LTTE controlled territory. The flickr page that the image links to has a higher resolution image which has notes. You can also access this by clicking on the image below.
Google Earth and satellitesights.com Location information
- The Google Earth location file (.kmz file) is now on line for downloading
- You can fly around it yourself through the satellitesights.com entry
Uyilankulam Crossing Point
There is another crossing point at Uyilankulam near Mannar which according to a Colombo page article has lesser traffic. The satellite imagery doesn’t zoom in too close. But found the location marked on geonames.org. No idea if its accurate.
Some references
An International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) bulletin on Omanthi (as of this post) dated 24 August 2007.
ICRC Sri Lanka Situation Report Bulletin No. 16 / 2007: The first paragraph has info on the ICRC presence at crossing points. There is a “Emergency” overview portal for Sri Lanka if you want to keep track of these things. They also have a well structured maps section showing the latest civilian situation in the “conflict area” (aka war zone).
Cerno 
Cerno..excellent images. I’ve actually been through this checkpoint on my way to and from Jaffna.
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The benevolent Dictator Thank you 😀
If you got write up anything about that experience place send me the link 🙂
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srilakan gorvement can not win the war beacouse srilankan army fighting for money but ltte fight for freedom. wait and see tighter is not sleep now. they are digging ground for srilankan armey death body.
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seran: Not sure what’s tighter 🙂 but the LTTE is a major criminal organisation and a brain washed cult. I doubt if there’s much money for the average trooper in the army if the
. There’s also not much freedom under the LTTE either. Freedom or money has little to do for the people doing the dying and the king.
Your comment sounds a bit trollish and I’d usually feed the troll but what the hell
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