A woman died at Panichchankerni around noon on Tuesday when LTTE cadres fired indiscriminately after being attacked by Karuna loyalists.
Senior military officials based in the East and Colombo said LTTE cadres fired rocket propelled grenades and mortars at random for about one hour after dissidents mounted a commando-style assault on an isolated road block situated a few kilometres away from the Kadjuwatte army camp.
The incident took place in the LTTE-held area.
This particular point is manned by about six personnel during the daytime and about 12 in the night. The military believes at least six LTTE cadres were killed in Tuesday’s attack, undoubtedly the biggest gun battle since the LTTE claimed it had routed forces loyal to Karuna in the second week of April.
The LTTE moved reinforcements to cordon off the area to track down the attackers.
"Two women with shrapnel wounds were rushed to the Valaichenai government hospital shortly after the firing ceased. One of them succumbed to injuries and the other was subsequently transferred to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital," an officer based in Colombo said. At least two others who had suffered minor injuries entered the government-controlled area, he said.
Another officer based in the area said, "troops deployed at Kadjuwatte heard several explosions. We believe several mines, probably claymores were detonated during the confrontation."
The military ridiculed the LTTE claim that the ‘shelling came from the direction of the Kadjuwatte army camp’, as a very poor attempt at misinformation.
The office of the Scandinavian truce monitoring mission in Batticaloa declined to confirm whether the mission received a complaint from the LTTE.
