Five more LTTE cadres killed in Colombo; toll rises to 28

Five more LTTE cadres killed in Colombo; toll rises to 28
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

COLOMBO, MARCH 11: Five more Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels involved in last night's abortive bid to assassinate Sri Lankan deputy defence minister General Anurudha Ratwatte were killed in the early hours on Saturday, taking the toll in an overnight orgy of violence to 28.

The LTTE rebels who had managed to sneak into a thickly populated apartment block after the attempt on Ratwatte's life last night, were killed, officials here said.

While two of them are believed to have committed suicide, three others were shot dead by the police and army commandos. The heavily-armed rebels fired a couple of rocket-propelled grenades, while the security forces fired tear gas shells to fish out the Tigers.

Hospital sources said two more persons injured in Friday evening's explosions succumbed to their injuries.

Twenty-one people died as a suicide bomber jumped on the minister's advance vehicle, while two others were shot dead by his commandos as they attempted to attack vehicles in the cavalcade at Borella near the parliament. Ratawatte was not in the convoy.

The dead included six policemen. Sixty people were also injured in the incident, the officials said.

State-run Daily News

, reconstructing Friday's incidents on Parliament Road, said a massive gun battle broke out after police, following a tip off, detected a group of well-armed LTTE men connecting wires to a claymore mine placed on top of a roadside tree.

As they were discovered, two LTTE gunmen, believed to be suicide bombers, opened fire with rifles while their colleagues attacked the nearby police checkpost with bombs, RPGs and automatic rifles.

One suicide bomber exploded himself to provide cover to other members of the group, while his colleagues attempted to escape. A suicide jacket wired with bombs was later detonated by police on the spot.

Meanwhile, special task force commando units and policemen guarding various intersections counter-attacked them from both sides of the road. The militants, whose number is still being debated, escaped into the nearby Serpentine Apartment blocks, the paper said.

All newspapers pointed out that the well-planned attack, pressing in a claymore mine and several well-armed LTTE suicide bombers, was aimed at attacking a number VVIP convoys which were scheduled to pass that way after parliament, located about three km from the place of the attack, ended its day's deliberations.