Sri Lankan town deserted and devastated by battle

MUTUR, Sri Lanka, Aug 6 (Reuters) After days of heavy fighting in this eastern town, jumpy Sri Lankan soldiers are almost the only signs of life on streets littered with fallen power lines, spent cartridges and dead animals.

Mutur has been abandoned by most of its people. Tamil Tiger rebels say they will halt an offensive and the army says violence is abating, but intermittent artillery and small-arms fire still echo across the town.

On the beach, the damage from the fighting has added to devastation caused by the 2004 tsunami. Wooden temporary shelters for the tsunami victims stand splintered.

''There was very serious fighting,'' said an officer from the elite Commando regiment. ''But I think we've pushed them back. I think the town is now safe.'' But small-arms fire and explosions from mortars and government artillery still hitting nearby Tiger targets could be heard yesterday.

Most houses still stand but many are damaged. Near the temporary headquarters of the naval infantry in a damaged building near the jetty, a dead cow lay in a deserted garden.

On a walk through the town with the Commandos, Reuters saw only three civilians amid the debris.

Thousands fled Mutur on Friday, complaining that both sides had been shelling the town and that life had become impossible.

Most are now in camps or staying with relatives.

A military-held Muslim town sandwiched between two areas of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory on the southern edge of the northeastern Trincomalee harbour, Mutur was first attacked on Wednesday morning.

SAFE TO RETURN? After days of rumours the town had fallen to the Tigers yesterday, the military brought in more than a dozen journalists from the capital Colombo to show that the buildings once briefly occupied by the Tigers had been recaptured.

Fighting continued on the road south from town, and the only way to move supplies into or out of the town was by fast naval gunboat. Troops scanned the area through machinegun sights as special forces boats escorted the journalists in.

Troops showed off the corpses of what they said were four slain Tiger fighters. Elsewhere in town, troops loaded the pungent corpse of a serviceman onto an ambulance.

The hospital was hit early in the attack and has been abandoned. Troops said it was not safe to enter as it might still contain booby-traps laid by the Tigers, rebels who have been fighting for a homeland for minority Tamils for two decades.

The military say they believe 400 rebels attacked and say they believe they killed some 100, mostly with artillery. The claim is impossible to verify, as is the statement that the military only lost around 12 soldiers.

The military say the town is now safe enough for civilians to return. Most residents are still reluctant to go back.

''The town was very bad,'' said 30-year-old Anisa Rafeek, evacuated to the hospital in Trincomalee after her 3-year-old daughter was hurt by a shell. ''If things return to normal, then I would like to go back. But only Allah knows when that will be.'' REUTERS BDP HS0857