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| Southeast Asia |
| Sri Lanka Bomb Attack Kills Three Police Officers |
| 2008-06-25 |
| (Bloomberg) -- A bomb attack targeting Sri Lankan police killed three officers in the eastern Batticaloa region as clashes in the north left 21 rebels dead, the government said. One police officer was injured in the attack blamed on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the ministry said in a statement posted on its Web site. The explosion took place late yesterday near a lake where the officers went to bathe. Ten Tamil Tigers were killed in gun battles with soldiers in the Welioya region yesterday while 24 rebels were injured, the Media Centre for National Security said in a statement posted on its Web site. Two soldiers died in the fighting. Another eight LTTE members were killed in Mannar and three others in Vavuniya region, the centre said. The LTTE has been fighting for a separate homeland since 1983 in an insurgency that has killed more than 70,000 people. The group suffered one of its biggest defeats last July when it lost control of the eastern region to the army. The government is seeking $1.8 billion in aid to rebuild Eastern Province and attract investment and tourists to the region that has a 426-kilometer (265-mile) coastline. Elections for the provincial council were held in May. The rebels, designated as a terrorist group by the U.S., the European Union and India are facing almost daily attacks on their bases in the Northern Province, their last strongholds in the South Asian island nation. President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government ended a Norway- brokered 2002 cease-fire with the LTTE in January. The government has vowed to eradicate terrorism on the island while seeking a settlement with all Tamil groups. |
| Posted by:Fred |