Colombo, April 14 (AP): Five civilians were dragged out of their homes and shot dead in eastern Sri Lanka, the military said Saturday, blaming separatist LTTE.

The attack on ethnic Tamil civilians took place on Friday night in Eravur town, in Batticaloa district, 220 kilometres east of the capital, Colombo, an official at the Defence Ministry's information centre said.

However, there was no official commment from the LTTE so far.