Lanka army pushes on with offensive

Muslim men protest after attending Friday prayers in Colombo yesterday and denounced the attacks on Muslim civilians in the island's north-east region. Police stepped up security after Muslims stoned a few Tamil-owned shops in a busy commercial area of the city. PHOTO: AFP

The military said it exchanged intermittent artillery and mortar fire with the Tigers as the fighting, the worst since a 2002 ceasefire, entered a 17th day. But the army said the intensity was far lower than previous days.

Army trucks towed fresh heavy gun parts toward the battle zone after an army camp was wrecked overnight when an artillery gun accidentally exploded, igniting an arms dump.

Officials said three troops were injured in the blasts, but said there were no fatalities as feared late on Thursday.

"The operation to defend the water continues," said Major Upali Rajapakse, senior coordinator at the National Security media centre.

The government says it will not halt operations until it controls a disputed sluice and an irrigation reservoir that feeds it. The Tigers say the land is theirs, and say continued army attacks are an effective declaration of war.

Fighting over the water, which feeds farms in government territory, began late last month, effectively ending the tenuous truce between the Tigers and the government.

Army artillery and air force jets pounded rebel positions in the east on Thursday as ambulances ferried dozens of wounded troops to hospital and the military moved tanks, munitions and fresh soldiers to the battlefront.

The Tigers said on Thursday more than 50 civilians were killed and 200 wounded in their territory from army shelling. Doctors said six troops were killed and more than 50 wounded during an abortive push to capture the sluice.

The Tigers have long demanded a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the north and east but President Mahinda Rajapakse has ruled this out. The rebels say any return to stalled peace talks is a distant prospect.

Aid groups accuse the government of forcing civilians to flee Tiger areas by shelling and deliberately blocking aid.

"The military and government are blocking the flow of aid into Tiger areas which is a violation of the ceasefire," Jeevan Thiagarajah of the Consortium for Humanitarian Agencies said late on Thursday. "We can't reach people in need."