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| Sri Lanka |
| 11 killed in Sri Lanka |
| 2006-05-09 |
| At least 11 people were killed in Sri Lankan factional fighting on Monday, defence officials said, as a Japanese envoy sought to salvage the island’s faltering peace process. A breakaway faction of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched a pre-dawn attack against a base of the main guerrilla group in northeastern Trincomalee district Monday, killing 11 and wounding four, defence sources said. There was no immediate word from the Tigers or the faction led by V Muralitharan, aka Colonel Karuna, but official sources said the attack appeared to be a retaliatory strike after an LTTE attack on Karuna’s forces last month. The defence ministry said they had no further details of the latest violence because the fighting occurred in rebel-held territory. The reports of violence emerged as Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi met President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday after the government imposed a curfew on Sunday in the northern Jaffna peninsula. Defence Ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said the curfew would be lifted later on Monday. The main entry and exit points to rebel-held territory in the island’s north have also been closed since Sunday. “We hope to be able to open the entry and exit points very soon,” Samarasinghe said without elaborating. On Sunday, security forces imposed the curfew in Jaffna ahead of protests over last week’s killing of seven men the army said were suspected Tamil Tigers, but rebels described as civilians. The security measures also followed reports that eight men were missing in Jaffna on Sunday. |
| Posted by:Fred |