Colombo readies food for Tamil refugees
Colombo readies food for Tamil refugees
COLOMBO (Agencies): About 200,000 Tamil refugees, desperate for food after more than two weeks without fresh supplies as Sri Lankan troops push into rebel-held territory, may get relief today, military officials said.
"If everything is all right we'll be sending the food convoys tomorrow," an army official in the frontline town of Vavuniya, 215 kilometers north of the capital said yesterday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross said on Saturday the halt in food shipments to the northern Wanni region, dominated by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrillas, could trigger a serious crisis for the displaced Tamils there.
The army has not allowed food shipments into the northern areas for more than a fortnight as fierce fighting between troops and LTTE guerrillas continues near the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi.
More than 600,000 Tamils have been trapped on the Wanni mainland for more than three weeks after the LTTE and the army placed restrictions on their movement to government-held areas where they can receive food and water, fast running out in the north.
Meanwhile, officials said navy gunboats attacked a flotilla of Tamil Tiger guerrilla boats off northeastern Sri Lanka, while government ground troops elsewhere remained pinned down yesterday under a fierce rebel counter-offensive.
At least one big rebel boat was sunk, killing six of the guerrillas known as Sea Tigers, and eight other rebel craft were damaged during the midnight confrontation Saturday, the officials said.
They said two government sailors were wounded during the exchange of fire off the island's Mullaitivu coast, where the separatist LTTE overran an army garrison last month, killing some 1,300 troops and seizing US$50 million worth of armaments.
News of the sea battle came as the Tigers said they had blocked an army advance on a rebel-held town in the island's north, as fighting in the area entered its second week Sunday.
Tiger rebels said yesterday their fighters had pinned down government troops trying to advance on Kilinochchi but a military spokesman denied the claim.
"For the past six days the military has been making a desperate bid to break out of Paranthan to occupy more Tamil homeland (territory) by capturing Kilinochchi," the rebels said in a statement faxed to an international news agency.
However, a military spokesman said troops, backed by tanks, artillery and air support, had advanced south of Paranthan and were digging in on the outskirts of Kilinochchi, 285 kilometers north of Colombo.