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LTTE munitions destroyed: Army
B. Muralidhar Reddy
| Number of displaced due to hostilities swells to 1.7 lakh, says United Nations |
FOUND IN TIME: A bomb squad checking the 15-kg explosive found strapped to a vegetable-laden bicyle in Colombo on Tuesday.
COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan military claimed on Tuesday to have destroyed an ammunition dump of the Tamil Tigers in the continuing hostilities. Meanwhile, the number of the displaced swelled to 1.7 lakh, according to U.N. estimates.
For the last 4 days, the Government has attempting to ferry a shipload of relief goods to Jaffna peninsula but a variety of factors including inclement weather have held up the ship at the harbour here.
Minister Douglas Devananda told a news conference here that the supplies should reach Jaffna within two days and the machinery to distribute food within the region was already in place.
"The situation in Jaffna is not desperate. The fighting was only along the borders but the town and the suburbs are not affected." Further, he said the curfew, in force for 10 days, was being eased to allow people to stock up on food.
To a question, he did concede that it was risky for the Government to consider supply of relief goods by air. The military and civil aviation services stand suspended due to the gun battles in the peninsula.
The Army said Israeli-built Kfir jets had attacked a Tiger position close to the frontline of fighting in the northern district.
In Colombo, police said they had foiled a rebel attack after defusing a 15-kg mine attached to a vegetable seller's bicycle in a busy market area. Officials said they believed that a legislator was the target. Last week, Pakistan's outgoing High Commissioner escaped unhurt while seven persons were killed in a bomb attack.
A partially-loaded ship carrying more than 1,000 tonnes of food and medicines was to leave Colombo for a two-day voyage on Tuesday and the Government said a larger boat would follow in days.
"The ship should go today as it is urgently needed," said Peter Krakolinig, deputy head of the International Committee of the Red Cross team in Sri Lanka.
The ICRC said a ferry was also planned for later this week to bring out some of the 400 to 500 foreigners believed trapped on the peninsula. They included aid workers and foreign passport holders of Sri Lankan origin visiting relatives.
A convoy of 243 persons including 61 foreigners was allowed to leave the rebel-held territory in Kilinochchi, just south of Jaffna, after being trapped for more than a week, the ICRC said on Tuesday.
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