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Colombo pulls out ICRC staff following LTTE shelling

B. Muralidhar Reddy

19 Tigers killed in intense fighting

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka on Thursday announced withdrawal of the ICRC representatives at the Omanthai entry/exit point at Vavuniya due to reported heavy mortar shelling by the LTTE and maintained that at least 19 Tiger cadres were killed in intense fighting in the north in the last 24 hours.

A Defence Ministry statement said the point had been temporarily closed for civilians. It said the LTTE's aim was to prevent civilians entering liberated areas. It said the LTTE was suffering from a severe manpower shortage as the civilians no longer heeded its orders.

"It is not like in Vaharai, where thousands of civilians held as a human shield. In Wanni, Prabhakaran wants to see all of us dying in the battlefield before he does", a youth, who recently escaped to the liberated areas, told the Defence Ministry website.

According to the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS), in Mannar the LTTE launched mortar fire at the Ulliyankulam entry-exit point and suffered 14 casualties in retaliatory action by forces.

Catastrophe

"The LTTE terrorists had crafted a similar human catastrophe in the east last year before SL [Sri Lanka] security forces liberated the area. However, the civilians in the east today live free from terror clutches and expect better living standards that swiftly coming towards them in government's resettlement programmes."

TamilNet reported that the immediate release of the "abducted students" was the only way to bring educational activities back to normality.

It said Jaffna Bishop Rt. Rev. Thomas Savundaranayagam held a special meeting on Wednesday with representatives of Peoples Committee for Peace and Goodwill (PCPG) and the army Jaffna Commander Maj. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri on the alleged abductions.

LTTE spreading terror

The military has claimed that "concerted efforts with complex and multifaceted dimensions" appear to have been launched by LTTE cadres and supporters in the Jaffna peninsula to disrupt public life and spread terror among civilians who have largely distanced themselves from aiding and abetting the Tigers.

"Those elements, mostly operating in covert manner on the instructions of their jungle-based leaders, plague innocent civilians and businessmen over extortions, ransom and spate of robberies and criminal acts. So do they with schoolchildren by inciting them to commit violence" against state property or members of the security forces," the military said.

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