17 killed in Navy--LTTE clash in Kalpitiya

Colombo, June 28 (UNI) The number of casualties in today's hour-long gunbattle between the LTTE and Sri Lankan navy rose to 17 with the naval officers claiming that 12 Tamil Tigers had been killed apart from five sailors of the Lankan navy.

''This morning, the Navy retaliated when a Sea Tigers flotilla of 20 boats mounted attack on in-shore patrol vessels on a routine patrol at Kalpitiya lagoon. Five sailors of the Srilankan Navy were killed and three more injured, while 12 Sea Tiger cadres were also killed in the fire-fight,'' Navy Spokesman, Commander P D K Dassanayake told UNI over the phone.

However, the LTTE media unit in a statement said that one Sea Tiger cadre was killed and two more wounded in the Kalpitiya clash.

The LTTE's attack on the Navy has come at a time when the country's security has been beefed up ahead of the funeral of Sri Lanka's Army Deputy Chief of Staff, Lt General Parami Kulatunga, who was killed in a suspected LTTE suicide attack in the outskirts of Colombo on Monday.

The funeral of the late Maj General Kulatunga, who was posthumously promoted as Lieutenant General, took place at Borella General Cemetery in Colombo this evening evening with full military honours.

Military spokesman, Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said that the government has re-established six main key road-blocks for thorough checks on all vehicles coming into the South from the restive North-East as it had been before the signing of the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement.

''24-hour road blocks were established at Maha-Oya, Mannampitiya, Madawachchi, Deduru-Oya, Hathaskottuwa and Siyambalanduwa and we will be checking all the vehicles throughout. The people will have to get down from their vehicles and show their identity cards. All the goods coming from these areas will also be checked thoroughly," Brig Samarasinghe said.

UNI XC ARB VV2156