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"Water war" spreads to Jaffna peninsula

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Thousands of civilians displaced in continued fighting

COLOMBO: Intense fighting between the military and the LTTE since the latter blocked a waterway on July 20 and lifted it on August 8 continued on Monday in the east and the north.

The "water war" which started in the last week of July has now spread to Jaffna peninsula and reports suggest that thousands of civilians are displaced. Jaffna town is under curfew since Friday. It was relaxed for a few hours on Monday to enable people to buy essentials.

The focus on Monday was on the death of 61 school children in an alleged air raid in the Mullaittivu district under the control of the LTTE and the explosion in Colombo purportedly targeting the Pakistan High Commission.

The Government accused the LTTE of spreading lies like the school incident to divert attention from its military losses in the Jaffna peninsula and its brazen attacks on various innocent targets like the Deputy chief of the Government Peace Secretariat on Saturday.

The Liberation Tigers' Peace Secretariat described the school attack as "a horrible act of terror" by the armed forces. According to the Tigers, the injured in the aerial bomb attack are being treated in Mullaittivu and Kilinochchi hospitals. Besides, the TamilNet claimed that 41 civilians seriously injured in the Army shelling from Palaly military base towards areas in Jaffna islets from Allaipiddy to Mankumban were taken to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital on Monday by the Sri Lanka Red Cross.

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