Here's another Muslim fanatical war far from Israel that I'm sure someone here will blame on Jews.
Muslim-Tamil Tensions Put East Sri Lanka on Edge
Thursday, April 17, 2003 10:36 a.m. ET
E-mail or Print this story
- - - - -
By Scott McDonald
COLOMBO (Reuters) - Three men were shot dead on Thursday as authorities struggled to put a lid on rising communal tension on Sri Lanka's volatile east coast.
Officials said five people were wounded in fighting between Muslims and Tamils in Muttur, 140 miles east of Colombo, after Muslims protested the alleged abduction of two youths by Tamil Tiger rebels.
"There were three killed and five wounded, but the fighting has stopped and the police now have things under control," said military spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne.
He said a curfew had been declared in the area and the army had also been called out to support the police.
Clashes between Muslims and the mostly Hindu Tamils have highlighted the long-standing friction in the east that officials say must be reduced if a bid to end the island's two-decade war is to go ahead.
Muslims comprise about eight percent of the island's population, but make up about one third of the east, and the community is seen as crucial to any final peace settlement.
The latest fighting comes after Muslim-Tamil clashes last July left 13 dead along the east coast.
"The majority of the dead and wounded seem to be Muslims, but we also have reports that three Tamils were hurt," said Teitur Torkelsson, a spokesman for the Nordic monitors overseeing Sri Lanka's cease-fire signed in February 2002.
He said a monitor was crossing the bay from the port of Trincomalee to check on the situation.
The Tamil Tigers, who hold a seventh round of peace talks with the government later this month, denied involvement in the abduction.
According to local media reports, a mother of one of the missing youths committed suicide on Tuesday, which led businesses in the area to close their shops.
The Tigers have been accused of ethnic cleansing for evicting about 100,000 Muslims from the Tamil-majority majority Jaffna peninsula a decade ago.
Even though the cease-fire has stopped the fighting between government troops and the Tigers, Muslims accuse the rebels of extortion and abductions. |
