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Five civilians shot dead in Batticaloa

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: At least five civilians were killed in the continuing tensions in Batticaloa district in the east in the last 24 hours. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Tamil Tigers have blamed each other for the incidents.

In a statement here on Saturday, the military said LTTE gunmen shot dead Tamil civilians including a three-year-old on Friday.

The military charged that the LTTE has opted for "much easier venues of swelling a catastrophic humanitarian crisis" in the north and east. It said the latest LTTE attack claiming five civilian lives raises the death toll since April 1 to 49 civilians.

However, TamilNet alleged that the five civilians were shot dead by a group of Sri Lankan troopers at Kanapathipillai village.

"Sri Lankan soldiers who had taken cover alongside a road had opened fire on two persons suspected to be carrying weapons", it said.

Separately, the Defence Ministry claimed that following the decision of Intelstat to close down the National Television of Tamil Eelam (NTT), Tamil Tigers are planning to launch its second channel through Globecast.

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