News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 March 1999, 22:59 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army says three Tigers killed in a confrontation in the Elephant Pass area; School principle in Kalutara blames authorities for discriminating against Tamil medium schools; Three injured at UNP rally.

Three Killed at Elephant Pass

The bodies of three female suspected members of the Liberation Tigers killed in a clash in the early hours of this morning in the general area of the Elephant Pass base complex were handed over to the Jaffna hospital this afternoon.

Sources in Jaffna said that the confrontation had occurred around 2 a.m. at Thattuwan Kotti.

The SLA said that it recovered three T-56 assault rifles from the scene of the clash.

The area was pounded for several hours by heavy fire from the SLA's artillery and heavy mortar positions.

---

"Tamil medium schools discriminated"

Students at the 'Golden Tamil Vidyalayam' (school) in Kalutara, south of Colombo have not yet received textbooks for the current year, said sources.

They said that several other Tamil schools there had not received year one, six and nine textbooks.

A Tamil school principle pointed out if schools in Northeast had not received books because of transport difficulties, as claimed by the authorities, there was no reason for Tamil schools in the South not receiving books.

"It is a policy of discrimination against Tamil medium schools," he added.

---

Three injured at UNP rally

The Officer in Charge of the Gampola police and two others were wounded when a group of unidentified men threw stones at a rally organised by the main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP) this evening.

The wounded have been admitted to the Gampola hospital, sources said.