Saturday, August 04, 2007

20 LTTE cadres killed, says Colombo

The Sri Lanka Army has claimed that at least 20 cadres of the Tamil Tigers were killed and five others injured in the past 24 hours as the fighting spread to the north.

A statement by the Defence Ministry said the Tiger cadres were killed while “attempting to breach the forward defences” in different locations in the Wanni area on Wednesday.
Heavy fighting

“LTTE casualties would go up as infiltrating terrorist elements drew heavy gun fire from the troops at the Wanni forward defences.

“The moves by LTTE units that attempted to move into the liberated territory from Periya Panchan and Thampanai were successfully thwarted by the security forces”, it claimed. Separately, the Presidential Secretariat said the police have agreed to obtain the assistance of “recognised Citizens’ Committees” in recording complaints by the public in several districts of the Northern and Eastern Provinces, beginning with Mannar district.

A statement issued by the Secretariat said the additional means of citizens’ access to the police for complaints is to be introduced in view of the shortage of police personnel competent in the Tamil language and the need for the police to be more citizen-friendly, particularly in these districts. It said the police will also promote the recruitment of members of the minority communities to the service and proficiency in Tamil will also be made mandatory for promotions within the police service.

In another development, the LTTE alleged that five civilians were abducted by the Karuna group and the army in Batticaloa two weeks ago.

It said members from the Karuna group and the army came to the houses of these civilians and took them away.

(http://www.hindu.com/2007/08/04/stories/2007080456091600.htm)

No comments: