Rebels push into Sri Lankan town as fighting deepens
COLOMBO, Aug 2 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers attacked three army camps and pushed into government territory in the east today, as an artillery duel killed at least 12 people a day after suicide bombers tried to sink a ship with 850 troops aboard.
Officials said five military personnel and two civilians were killed, while civilian witnesses saw the corpses of five female Tiger fighters on a road near the eastern port of Trincomalee, as a battle for control over a water sluice in the area widened.
Police said rebels had infiltrated government-held parts of nearby Mutur, had overrun a police post and were firing at troops from buildings in the town. The military said the Tigers had tried to capture a navy jetty checkpoint but had been repulsed.
The air force resumed bombing raids on Tiger positions for an eighth day, while the rebels and military exchanged artillery and mortar fire.
''There are Tigers in Mutur town. They are firing from buildings in the government-held part,'' said Eastern Range Deputy Inspector-General of Police Rohan Abeywardene. ''We had to pull men back from a police checkpoint, but the Tigers are not in control of the town.'' Two Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) mortar bombs fell near a civilian hospital in Mutur, causing some damage to the building, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.
The Tigers had no immediate comment on yesterday's fighting.
Petroleum Resources Minister A H M Fowzie said there was no reported damage to storage tanks in Trincomalee used by fuel retailer Lanka IOC. State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp. sources fuel from the island's only refinery near Colombo, he added.
VIOLENCE SPIRALS Diplomats and analysts increasingly fear a return to a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.
Nordic truce monitors say a 2002 ceasefire has broken down in all but name. More than 800 people have died in a series of attacks and military clashes so far this year.
On Monday, a senior rebel in the east said an army offensive meant the ceasefire was over and that the war had restarted. But the government says it remains committed to the ceasefire and the Tigers say they are only acting defensively.
''This certainly looks like a war,'' said one diplomat. ''Neither side has shown any sign of wanting to de-escalate this situation and seek peace.'' The government accuses the Tigers of attempted ethnic cleansing through cutting off the water supply to around 50,000 mostly Sinhalese and Muslims in army-held territory.
''Denying civilians water is a war crime,'' said Dr Palitha Kohona, head of the government's peace secretariat. ''Wars have started over less. Look at Lebanon.'' REUTERS DKB BD1443