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Fighting intensifies in Jaffna

COLOMBO: The Defence Ministry has said at least six civilians, a soldier and 15 LTTE cadres were killed and two sailors and a soldier went missing as the military and the LTTE fought in the Jaffna Peninsula on Thursday.

The Ministry said 20 others were injured when the LTTE launched the artillery attack on the Jaffna mainland. “The cowardly attack targeting innocent civilians comes within hours after the Army and Navy successfully repulsed a pre-dawn infiltration bid at Chiraththivu islet, located along the Jaffna-Mandathivu causeway.”

The Ministry claimed the civilian attack was a “reprisal” by the Tigers for not heeding to its call to boycott the “Jaffna reawakening” carnival held last week.

Pro-LTTE website TamilNet said five civilians were killed and 13 others wounded when shells fired by LTTE hit the coastal villages of Kurunakar, Kozhumpuththu’rai, Paasaiyoor, and areas close to Jaffna Fort, Thuraiappa Stadium and Sri Lanka Telecommunication building in the early hours of Thursday.

The website said the shelling was the result of an LTTE raid on a military camp on Chiruththivu islet. In a related development, a journalist, Paranirupasingam Thevakumar, was abducted and hacked to death in Kaakkaitheevu on Wednesday. Separately, the Air Force claimed it raided LTTE targets in Mullaittiuvu, Kilinochchi and Mannar districts.

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