COLOMBO: Tamil militants on a suicide attack damaged a Sri Lankan navy ship and destroyed a television relay station and a fuel dump in northeastern Sri Lanka in the past 24 hours, Ranjan Wijeratne, minister of state for defence, said here Thursday.
He also said the security forces, looking for mines on the eastern sea beach, found 38 LTTE militants who were hiding in the sand dunes and were breathing through some small pipes.
The militants found at the Foul Point area of eastern Trincomalee on Monday were killed, he said.
In the north, the militants continued with their sporadic attacks with mortars, rocket propelled grenades and machine guns on the military bases, including the besieged Jaffna Fort, palaly air force base, Kankesanthurai port and Killinochchi detachment in the last 24 hours, military officials here said.
The militants were also reported to be constructing new bunkers around the Killinochchi camp.
Wijeratne said LTTE men with a small boat loaded with explosives rammed a naval ship off Trincomalee on Wednesday.
The navy destroyed one of the militants’ two boats that were providing fire cover, while another escaped, he said.
One naval personnel was killed and three others were injured in the incident, military officials here said:
The militants, who had launched a major attack on the Kokavil security force detachment in Jaffna since Tuesday, had destroyed the adjoining TV relay station and a fuel dump on Wednesday, Wijeratne said.
A military unit guarding the salt corporation quarters at Elephant Pass also came under attack on Wednesday in which one soldier was injured, military officials said.
Meanwhile, Ranil Wickrama singhe, leader of the house in parliament, indicated in a press conference that elections to the northeastern provincial council would be postponed under emergency regulations.
The cabinet would take a decision on reports from the election commissioner in case it was not possible to hold the elections due to the ongoing conflict between the LTTE and government forces.
The election commissioner issued a notification on Wednesday calling for nominations for fresh elections in the northeast.
A convoy of 12 Lorries carrying food medical supplies was likely to reach Jaffna with escorts from the international committee for Red Cross.
The LTTE militant group is demanding an independent Tamil State in the island nation of Sri Lanka.
The tigers stepped up their offensive in the northern and eastern parts of the island, after the Indian peace keeping force withdrew in March this year, plunging the island nation into a civil war.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 20, 1990
