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| Sri Lanka |
| 22 rebels killed in Lanka clashes |
| 2007-10-05 |
| Sri Lanka soldiers killed 22 Tamil Tiger rebels in clashes in the north of the island, the military said on Thursday, as it pressed on with an offensive in the restive region. But the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said they had foiled an attempt by soldiers to advance towards areas controlled by the rebels in the northern Vavuniya region. “There were two confrontations today with LTTE in Vavuniya, there army killed nine and in another incident army fired at a group of terrorists and killed seven. No casualties to the military,” said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. Six rebels and three soldiers were killed in clashes in the same district on Wednesday, the government said. A LTTE military spokesman said government forces had shelled rebel-controlled areas in Vavuniya in a bid to advance but were pushed back. He accused the military of using civilians as human shield in their attempt to gain ground. “It is a crime to use civilians as human shield and we are unable to retaliate or neutralise their batteries due to civilian population in the aria,” Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said. Independent confirmation of how many people were killed in the fighting or what had happened is not possible. Military analysts say both sides tend to exaggerate enemy losses and play down their own. Call for diplomat’s expulsion: Sri Lanka on Tuesday called for the expulsion of an Icelandic diplomat who made a clandestine visit to the Tamil Tiger-held north of the island. Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry said it asked Reykjavik to recall Bjarni Vestmann, a minister-counsellor at Iceland’s foreign ministry, after he entered the country on a tourist visa and went to the north to meet with rebels. “The (Sri Lankan foreign) minister strongly protested the action of Mr Vestmann and requested his immediate recall,” a ministry statement said. Foreigners and journalists are not allowed to enter territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) without government permission. The diplomat, however, had managed to get a ride with Scandinavian truce monitors, the ministry said. |
| Posted by:Fred |