on the night of 18 july 1996 ltte forces attacked and overran the military base at mullaithivu. it was the brigade headquarters of the 215 sri lankan army. about 1,600 soldiers were killed or missing. in april 2000 the ltte sea tigers captured elephant pass. this was a major victory since they had lost the last battle at elephant pass in 1991. by 2001 both sides were exhausted and ended the war. the ltte came away with a reputation for their fighting skills. but this led to an eelam war iv.