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| Sri Lanka |
| 23 Tamil rebels killed in Sri Lankan clashes |
| 2007-04-04 |
| Government soldiers killed 23 separatist Tamil rebels during a fierce clash in eastern Sri Lanka as the army attempted to regain control of the area, the military said Tuesday. The battle erupted late Monday while the soldiers were on an operation in the village of Unnichchai in the eastern Batticaloa district, military spokesman Brig Prasad Samarasinghe said. The military has launched several attacks in recent weeks to capture rebel bases and regain control of the east of the island, part of the area the rebels claim for an independent homeland. The military recovered 10 bodies of rebels and was preparing to hand them over to the guerrillas through the International Committee of the Red Cross, Samarasinghe said, adding that two soldiers were wounded in the clash. Separately, in the northern Vavuniya district, army troops killed two insurgents Monday evening, Lt Col Upali Rajapakse of the defence ministry said. He said assault rifles, detonators and a radio set were found with the bodies. Rebel officials could not be reached for comment. Heavy violence in recent days has included the rebels’ first air raid, a naval battle, a suicide bombing, government air strikes and a bomb blast on a bus that killed 16 people and wounded 25, as the tropical island edges toward a resumption of full-scale civil war. The victims of the bus blast near the eastern town of Ampara on Monday were mostly from the country’s Sinhalese ethnic majority, Samarasinghe said, blaming the Tamil rebels for the attack. A Tamil Tiger spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthirayan, denied their involvement and condemned the killing of innocent civilians. “We believe that this was carried out by forces who are opposed to us to create a bad name for us when the SAARC meeting is being held in India,” he said. The international Red Cross on Tuesday condemned a bus bombing on Sri Lanka’s eastern coast which left 16 people dead, including three children, and injured 25 others. “The International Committee of the Red Cross deplores the civilian casualties caused by an attack yesterday on a civilian bus in Ambalangoda, Ampara district,” it said in a statement. “The ICRC is deeply concerned about the rising number of civilians being injured or killed as a result of deliberate attacks in Sri Lanka’s escalating violence,” said Toon Vandenhove, head of the ICRC delegation in Colombo. |
| Posted by:Fred |