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| Sri Lanka |
| Heavy loss of life reported in fresh Lanka violence |
| 2007-09-01 |
| COLOMBO: Government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels traded artillery fire in the island’s northwest, with each side claiming heavy casualties against the other as well as among civilians. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they killed a government soldier and lost one of their own during Friday’s clashes in the coastal district of Mannar and accused the army of killing eight civilians. Military Spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said the new operation was a “humanitarian offensive to liberate about 6,000 to 7,000 people”. Samarasinghe said that in a separate incident on Friday, the military killed 11 Tamil Tiger rebels and nine soldiers were wounded in the fighting. “There was a threat to Forward Defence Lines from LTTE and we went and attacked them,” Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said. An estimated 5,000 people have died since last year in renewed fighting after a peace process collapsed. The civil war erupted in 1983 about 70,000 people have died and hundreds of thousands displaced. The Tigers, who say they are fighting for an independent state for minority ethnic Tamils in the north and east, were not immediately available for comment on the new offensive, but said three civilians were killed by a Sri Lankan “Deep Penetration Unit” operating in the rebel held aria. “A claymore was exploded targeting the fleeing civilians. Three dead bodies...have been taken to the hospital,” Selvy Navaruban, Tiger spokeswomen on humanitarian issues and human rights, told Reuters by phone. The pro-rebel Puthinam.com website said the victims were fleeing a military push into rebel-held territory in the Mannar district when they were killed in a mine attack carried out by the security forces. There was no immediate comment from the military. After the initial confrontation, “the LTTE front liners searched the area, where they found a dead body of a Sri Lanka armed force soldier and military equipment,” LTTE spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan said. The body would be returned to the military through the Red Cross, he said in a statement. A Tiger rebel was also killed in the confrontation, he said. However, the defence ministry said intercepts of rebel radio communications indicated that 11 guerrillas were killed. |
| Posted by:Fred |