The Ceylon News

At a time when almost all political parties in Tamilnadu are stressing for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka, the war between government forces and the LTTE took an aggressive turn today, with both sides making ‘devastating attacks’.

At least 15 people were killed and 20 others, including a Minister, injured in a suicide attack by a suspected LTTE bomber near a mosque in the southern Sri Lankan city of Matara.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intensified indiscriminate shelling on the ‘safe zone’ throughout Monday, and continued this morning, killing 74 civilians, including 25 children, and injuring more than 100, according to a pro-Tamil website.

According to a PTI report, the suicide bomber struck during a ceremony to mark Eid-e-Milad-ud-Nabi, the birth anniversary of Prophet Mohammad, near the mosque in Akuresha area in Matara. Defence sources said LTTE cadres targeted the people attending the celebrations near the mosque. Milad-un-Nabi is celebrated as a national festival in Sri Lanka.

Minister Mahinda Wijesekara, who suffered injuries in the attack, and other injured were rushed to the local hospital. In the the attack by the SLA near Vanni, 25 of the victims killed were children. ‘The inhuman shelling deliberately targeted all the areas of the ‘safe zone’ where civilians are already victims of flood and a mini-cyclone that hit them Monday.’

All lethal ammunitions such as artillery-fired cluster shells, fire-shells and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) shells were used in the SLA attack. The casualty figure is expected to rise, according to local NGO workers helping the displaced, the website said.

Another report on the same site said: ‘A lashing rain that started Sunday night became a mini-cyclone Monday severely causing misery to the already suffering civilians in the ‘safe zone’ in Mullaiththeevu. Amidst this catastrophe they were inhumanely attacked by the Sri Lanka Army shelling in which 71 civilians were killed within the last 36 hours.’

It added: ‘The mini-cyclone blew away the temporary tarpaulin tents and the low land adjacent to sea coast where the people were herded became heavily flooded causing at least 20,000 families stranded.’