6 Tigers killed in fresh clashes in Jaffna: Lanka

Colombo, Dec 1: At least six Tamil Tiger rebels were killed in a fresh clash with the Sri Lankan security forces personnel early today, the military here claimed.

The troops, manning the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) near the now closed Omanthai entry/exit point, confronted a group of LTTE cadres, killing at least six of them this morning, the military sources here said.

The fresh clashes have come a couple of days after the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), overseeing the battered truce violations, expressed serious concerns pointing out that 49 civilians had been killed and 60 injured in violent incidents in just four days between November 25 to 28.

Alarmed at the escalation of civilian casualties in the island nation, the SLMM on Thursday said the violence witnessed now was similar to what was seen prior to the signing of the Norwegian-brokered Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) in February 2002.

Sri Lanka has stepped up the security arrangements in and around Colombo after the twin blast last Wednesday.

UNI