18 Tigers killed near Mankulam - MoD

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Contrary to earlier reports, the object found on the bus from Chavakachari to Varani this morning was not a bomb. SLA sources in Thenmaratchi confirmed that the object was the mini-parachute of a flare which had been fired by the SLA.

Sri Lankan Army in Jaffna claimed earlier that they had discovered a bomb in the bus and arrested the driver and conductor of the bus.

The bus was stopped for a routine check said Police sources in Jaffna.

Meanwhile the Ministry of Defence (MoD) claimed today that troops of Operation Jayasikurui had engaged a group of Liberation Tigers in Murikandy, 15 KM north of Mankulam, killing four of them. In another confrontation near Mankulam fourteen Tigers were killed, the MoD said.