Over 40 casualties in clashes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2000, 05:51 GMT]
Five military trained policemen, including an officer, were killed and 20 Sri Lanka Navy personnel, nine police men and two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were wounded in three separate attacks by the Liberation Tigers Wednesday morning, security sources said. 16 civilians were also wounded.

Eighteen Sri Lanka Navy personnel were wounded when a bus in which they were traveling was hit by a claymore blast Wednesday morning around 8.30 near Anpuvallipuram, one km northwest of Trincomalee town on Kandy main road, police sources in the eastern port town told TamilNet.

The bus was in a convoy of vehicles transporting SLN personnel and their family members to Colombo, the sources said.

Ten civilians who were in the Sri Lanka Navy bus were also wounded sources said. The wounded were transported to Trincomalee hospital. A seriously wounded sailor and a civilian were transported to Colombo hospital and died later the sources added.

SLA troops conducted a subsequent search operation in the Anpuvallipuram area. Residents in Anpuvallipuram area told TamilNet sources that some civilians were assaulted by the troops.

In a separate incident the Liberation Tigers set off a claymore mine at Periyathambanai, west of Vavuniya Wednesday morning around 7.30 a.m., killing five military trained policemen, including an officer, and injuring nine others, police sources in Vavuniya said.

Elsewhere, two SLA soldiers were wounded in an attack by the Liberation Tigers at Siththandy, 24 km. north of Batticaloa around 11 am Wednesday.