International

Navy sailor, LTTE cadre killed in clashes

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: A sailor of the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and a cadre of the Tamil Tigers were killed in clashes between the two sides in the Kayts island in the north on Monday.

The Defence Ministry said naval troops carried out a search operation on Sunday night.

"In the operation, the naval troops ambushed the four terrorists, killing one and injuring the others... The fact that the islets are under naval control and the residents are being well looked after seemed to be irritating the crestfallen LTTE outfit... However, one sailor sustained injuries and later succumbed to them at military hospital at Palaly", it said.

TamilNet, in a report, alleged that the navy imposed a total ban from Monday morning on travel to the Jaffna islets, and barred people from either entering or leaving the Islets.

In another development, a top official of U.S. Agency for International's (USAID) emergency assistance programme noted improvements in the recent resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and said the United States would be willing to provide support to newly resettled communities within the context of a safe and dignified return.

Ky Luu, director of the USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA), spent two days inspecting several camps, exit points, and resettled communities with U.S. Ambassador Robert Blake and observe the resettlement process.

"OFDA supports a safe, secure, informed resettlement process in the East," Mr. Luu said.

"I am encouraged that services for returnees have clearly improved in the past few months. We support the Government's efforts to give timely access to NGOs and U.N. agencies assisting them in providing essential services to returnees." "These are improvements — we want to be able to add value to that," he said. "Still, we urge the Government to focus on improving information dissemination to returnees, as well as on health, water and sanitation".

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