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No hand in fisherman’s death: Colombo

COLOMBO: At least 50 LTTE cadre and 16 soldiers were killed and a church in Mannar district was damaged as fierce clashes continued along the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) in the north.

The Defence Ministry said the LTTE’s artillery barrages fell at the densely-populated Thalladi town on Tuesday damaging the church.

“SLA retaliated with heavy gun fire towards identified LTTE artillery positions in the non-liberated areas north of Mannar. Six soldiers who were at the St. Sebastian church premises were killed while another ten received injuries due to this incident,” it said.

The military said the soldiers were participating in a “shramadana” campaign at the request of the Rev. Father of the church. The military said troops advanced into LTTE territory killing at least 42 Tiger cadre and injuring over two dozen in Monday’s clashes at the tense Wanni battlelines.

Pro-LTTE TamilNet claimed that “normalcy” was disturbed in Mannaar city on Tuesday as the Army mounted an artillery barrage from all its camps in Mannaar towards LTTE “territories,” after an LTTE artillery box barrage targeted the Tha’l’laadi garrison.

In another development, the Navy “categorically and unequivocally” denied the allegations of its involvement in the killing of an Indian fisherman on Saturday night.

In a statement here it said, “Sri Lanka Navy exercises utmost care not to cross the International Maritime Boundary Line between Sri Lankan and Indian territorial waters while conducting patrolling and maritime surveillance to prevent LTTE arms smuggling and infiltration across the Gulf of Mannar and the Polk Bay.”

The statement also drew attention to the recent incident where the Navy did not open “retaliatory fire” when the persons yet to be identified on board two Indian fishing trawlers fired on its fiber glass boats in the seas off Talaimannar on February 4.

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