Sri Lanka police and Tigers in gun battle in north (Xinhua) Updated: 2005-12-30 10:49
Sri Lankan police and the Tamil Tiger rebels had been involved in an exchange
of fire in the northern Jaffna peninsula, defense officials said Friday.
The police station at Kodikamam in Jaffna came under fire at around 8:00 p.m.
local time (1400 GMT) Thursday.
The police returned the fire and the exchange lasted over 20 minutes,
officials added. No one was hurt in the gun battle.
This was the second time that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had
fired at the station.
The current wave of violence in the north has raised fears of war returning
to the island after the February 2002 ceasefire.
The rebels have carried out as many as four claymore mine attacks recently
against the government troops, killing some 40 soldiers.
The international truce monitors, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), said
on Thursday that escalating violence indicates that war was not far away and
called for action from both sides to adhere to the Norwegian backed ceasefire.
However, the military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said the troops
were well prepared to face any eventuality.
He said that despite constant attacks carried out by the Tigers against the
troops, the troops morale was very high with several precautionary measures
taken to ensure the maintenance of law and order.
The Tigers stepped up attacks against the security forces after the November
27 "Heroes Day" speech by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran.
The reclusive rebel leader said that his group would be forced to invigorate
its struggle for self determination for the minority Tamils unless the
government came up with a credible solution to the separatist armed
conflict.
|