Lanka: LTTE shelling kills 2 soldiers, wounds 10

Colombo, Feb 15: At least two Sri Lankan soldiers were killed and 10 others wounded when the LTTE fired a long-range artillery shelling at the Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) of the military at Muhamalai in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

''Two Army personnel were killed while another 10 sustained injuries in the attack yesterday,'' a Defence Ministry statement said, adding, troops with the Multi-Barrel Rocket Launchers (MBRLs) and artillery fire successfully countered the LTTE attack.

''Security forces believe that the LTTE would have suffered heavy casualties in the retaliatory fire,'' the statement said.

Last year several pitched battles had been fought between security forces and LTTE cadres in these areas that left hundreds of combatance dead and several others wounded. However, since then, not much fighting was reported other than the intermittant shelling by both the sides.

Pro-LTTE website Tamilnet in a report said at least 40 shells fired by the outfit hit the military camp at Meesalai located along the A9 Jaffna-Kandy main highway.

''An elderly pedestrian C Kulasekaram, (64), from Allarai North Kodikamam, was seriously injured and several civilians sustained minor injuries when a shell fell near the main road in Kodikamam,'' the report said, adding, residents of Kodikamam, Meesalai and Chavakachcheri stayed indoors after the attack.

Meanwhile, acting on a specific information, military in Jaffna recovered a haul of arms and ammunition hidden inside an abandoned house at Ariyalai in Jaffna on Tuesday.

''Among the items recovered were 690 kg of C4 type deadly explosives sealed in 30 wooden boxes. The explosive boxes were stacked in stealthily between two walls,'' the military said here.

UNI

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