International   

Norwegian envoy to visit Kilinochchi

B. Muralidhar Reddy

13 LTTE cadres killed, says military

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka military on Tuesday claimed that at least 13 cadres of the LTTE were killed in continuing battles in the north and east even as the Tamil Tigers accused the army of killing five civilians in a claymore mine attack.

According to the Defence Ministry, three LTTE fighters were killed and six others injured when troops took “defensive action” with artillery fire at a group of LTTE cadres attempting to lay claymore mines at the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) at Villathikulama in Vavuniya in the north on Monday.

Separately, the navy claimed that 11 cadres of Sea Tigers were killed in clashes between the two sides at sea off Pulmodai on Saturday. The navy released the names of the dead Tiger cadres.

In Thoppigala in the east, the last remaining pocket of influence of the LTTE, the Sri Lanka air force bombed three LTTE sites on Monday. It said the targets were the places from where the Tigers had launched attacks on the security forces in the past few days. In the span of a week, the air force has bombed various “identified targets” in Thoppigala several times. The military believes that it would be a matter of days before it secures control of the whole of east.

TamilNet claimed that five persons, including a “Tamil Eelam Health Service” worker and civilians were killed in a claymore mine attack by a Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the army in Vanni near Mangku’lam on Tuesday. It said a worker from the Road Development Department was wounded in the attack. Meanwhile, Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar is to visit Kilinochchi, the administration headquarters of the LTTE, on Wednesday.

According to diplomatic sources, Mr. Brattskar, who is leaving Sri Lanka at the end of his tenure in the next few days, had sought permission from the Government to travel to the north on the plea that he would like to make a farewell call on the LTTE leadership.

It is not clear if Mr. Brattskar would have any substantive talks with the LTTE leaders and whether he would have an opportunity to meet the LTTE supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Held in Sydney
China executes top drug official
Norwegian envoy to visit Kilinochchi
White House reviewing Iraq policy
Now a British move to cut methane emissions by changing the cow’s diet
NAM: Iran hails India’s stand
World Hindi meet opens on Friday

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu