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| Sri Lanka |
| Lanka Christmas violence toll hits 9, ship crew released |
| 2006-12-27 |
| At least nine people, including four Sri Lankan security force members, were killed in clashes with Tamil Tiger rebels over Christmas, the defence ministry said Tuesday. Three soldiers were killed in a mine attack in the northern peninsula of Jaffna, the defence ministry said in a statement. It blamed the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the attack. The rebels also lobbed a grenade at a police post providing security for St Lucia’s church in the Mannar district about 312 kilometres north of the capital Colombo early Monday, killing a constable, the ministry said. In another incident, nine soldiers were wounded in grenade attacks in Jaffna while troops retaliated and killed at least five guerrillas, the ministry said. There was no immediate word from the Tigers about the Christmas Day killings. In another development, Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday released 25 crew of a Jordanian ship that had drifted into waters near a guerrilla stronghold in the north, a rebel spokesman said. “We have handed over the crew to the ICRC at 10 am (0430 GMT). They are going to Vavuniya by road,” Daya Master, media coordinator of the LTTE told Reuters from the de facto rebel capital of Kilinochchi. The Jordanian vessel Farah III, carrying a cargo of rice, drifted off the Mullaittivu coast in the island’s war-torn northeast early on Saturday after mechanical failure. The ship had become the latest flashpoint in fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE in the north and the east of the island. The military accused the Tamil Tigers of forcibly boarding the vessel while it was adrift with a cargo of 14,000 tonnes of rice bound for South Africa from India. LTTE’s Daya Master said the ship was still off Mullaittivu. |
| Posted by:Fred |