SLA, LTTE exchange rocket fire in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 September 2006, 13:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Liberation Tigers exchanged rocket fire in the eastern Batticaloa at 4:30 a.m. Sunday lasting twon hours, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said. Fighting broke out when Sri Lankan government troops attempted to move from Pulipainthakal Bridge in Kiran, through Tharavai Road, into areas held by the Liberation Tigers.

SLA soldiers withdrew to their positions after they came under attack by LTTE fighters.

Rockets fired by the SLA troops hit villages of Iralakulam, Tharavai and Pondokalchenai, forcing hundres of civilians to seek refuge in safer areas. The displaced returned to their homes, later in the morning, LTTE sources said.

SLA sources, however, said that the offensive was carried out by the cadres of the paramilitary Karuna group and no SLA troopers were involved.

Details of injuries or casualties are not known.

Kiran is located 25 km. north of Batticaloa.

SLA sources also said that their troops retaliated when the Liberation Tigers fired artillery at the Kiran, Vavunativu camps at 5:20 a.m. for twenty minutes. Communication facilities of the LTTE were disrupted in Vavunativu by the retaliatory fire by the SLA troopers, SLA sources added.