COLOMBO, Jan. 4, Reuter: Indian troops and Sri Lankan police will jointly patrol the eastern town of Kattankudi where about 35 people died in minority Tamil Moslem clashes last week, officials said on Monday.
The decision was made at a meeting chaired by President Junius Jayewardene after Moslem affairs Minister Hanifa Mohammad visited the area on Saturday.
The clashes near Batticaloa on Wednesday and Thursday were sparked by the killing of a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam guerrilla. Rebels burned houses, rice mills, and vehicles, causing damage estimated at 165,000 dollars.
About 100 people were injured in the coastal town of 50,000 Moslems and 15,000 others sought refuge in nearby mosques,
The Tigers, the most powerful group fighting for a separate Tamil state in northern and eastern areas, repudiated a July Indo-Sri Lankan accord to end the revolt. The groupies battling Indian troops sent to disarm them. An Indian High Commission (Embassy) official said an unknown number of Tigers were killed on Thursday as they attempted to escape by boat after the Kattankudi attack.
“They fired at an Indian helicopter which retaliated sinking four boats and their occupants. There would have been four to five rebels in each boat,” the official said.
The state run daily news said on Monday that three rebel boats, ignoring orders to stop, were sunk and their crew killed on Saturday off the northern peninsula.
Article extracted from this publication >> January 8, 1988
