Gunmen attack sentry at Polannaruwa Buddhist temple

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 June 2006, 09:51 GMT]
Two unidentified gunmen fired at the joint Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police sentry located near the Somawathiya, a historic Buddhist temple in Polonnnaruwa Monday evening at 6:00 p.m., police said. The troops returned fire but gunmen escaped. No one was injured in the incident.

Liberation Tigers in a statement at the Peace Secretariat website denied any involvement in the attack and added they believed the attack is by "Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) operated forces aimed at creating ethnic tensions."

The website further said that the Somwathiya temple attack follows the same pattern as the attack in Omadiyamadu, on 29 May, claymore attack on a bus in Welisara, on 6 June, and the claymore attack on a bus on June 15 in Kebitigollawe that are aimed at discrediting the LTTE.

"LTTE denies involvement in all four of these attacks," the statement said.

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Alleged attack on Somawatie shrine