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Exercise restraint, LTTE told

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: The air force conducted raids on identified LTTE targets in Batticaloa district on Wednesday. It said the raids were in response to the shelling by the Tamil Tigers on army camps at Kadiraveli.

The fighting in the east coincided with the return of the LTTE delegation from Geneva after dropping their planned tour of Norway and Iceland.

Ambassadors of the Co-Chairs of Sri Lanka minus the U.S. met the LTTE delegation at the airport and expressed their disappointment over the outcome of the talks.

They reportedly told the delegation that the LTTE should not precipitate the situation with military offensive and it was not the way to realise the objective to get the A 9 highway re-opened.

The collapse of Geneva-II and continued trading of charges by the Government and the LTTE on provocations triggered fears of a large-scale offensive. The LTTE peace secretariat said the air force bombed Kaddumurivu area of Batticaloa.

"People were fleeing the area this morning. Sri Lankan military is also firing artillery shells and multi-barrel guns from Valaichenai military camp and Karadikulam military camp towards the civilian areas of Vaharai, Pannichchankerni, Kirumichchai and Alankulam.

"The pattern of firing and bombing are indicative of a large scale military offensive being planned by the Sri Lankan military."

At the end of the first day talks at Geneva on October 28, the LTTE had accused the military of mobilisation of troops along the Forward Defence Lines and warned of "serious consequences" if the military launched any offensive.

The military said the Forward Defence Lines and the detachments at Mavilaru and Mahindapura came "under intense and continuous" Tiger mortar and artillery fire since early hours forcing it to retaliate and neutralise the terrorist fire to continue routine defence work.

Flow of goods

Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangaree in a statement said if the LTTE assured free flow of goods into Jaffna without levying tax, promise to give up abductions on the A 9 highway and stop attacks at the Muhamalai defence line, the Government should re-open the road.

He said the LTTE, which shut down the highway for a decade in the past, had no moral right to lecture on its closure.

It should own up moral responsibility for the food shortages in Jaffna and the peninsula.

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