New Delhi: Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon is in Colombo as fighting intensified between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The Sri Lankan army said on Friday that it killed at least 19 LTTE men in a fierce battle in the restive east, where many fear escalating violence will lead the country back to full-scale war.
India's main concern centres around the plight of Tamil refugees in Jaffna and areas in the east. They are isolated and starved of supplies and at the mercy of combatants from both sides.
Menon is expected to talk to President Rajapakse in this regard.
Meanwhile the Sri Lankan army sent tanks and warplanes into eastern Batticaloa district on Thursday after the LTTE attacked government troops, the defense department said on its Web site on Friday.
Fifteen LTTE men were killed in artillery and airstrikes, while another four others died in a separate encounter with security forces in the district, the military said.
The LTTE, however, said only one of their fighters died, and claimed to have killed seven government commandoes. They also accused the government of launching an offensive to seize control of their territory in Batticaloa.
(With inputs from AP)
Comments
0 comment