DATE=5/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=SRI LANKA - MORTARS (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-262792
BYLINE=VANDANA CHOPRA
DATELINE=COLOMBO
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels say they are
ready for the final assault on Jaffna city and have
given the estimated 40-thousand government troops,
defending the city, a deadline of Friday to surrender
to avoid what they call a "bloodbath". Meanwhile
Vandana Chopra reports from Colombo heavy fighting
continues in Sri Lanka's north and east.
TEXT: The Sri Lankan government statement on Thursday
says its troops, with the support of artillery and
ground attack aircraft, successfully repulsed a rebel
attack on government defenses. (near Jaffna)
The director of government information says Tiger
rebels also launched a mortar attack on Kalladi
village, south of Batticoloa, 300 kilometers east
Of the capital Colombo. Six civilians including two
children were killed in the mortar attack, Wednesday
night.
The attack came soon after Tiger guerrillas shelled an
army camp and air base near Batticoloa. Fighting in
eastern Sri Lanka is seen by the government as a bid
by the Tamil separatists to divert the army's
attention from fighting in the north, on the Jaffna
peninsula.
Fierce fighting has raged for days as rebels try to
regain Jaffna which they lost to government forces in
1996.
Meanwhile, President Chandrika Kumaratunga in a
newspaper interview said the
government troops will be able to retain Jaffna with
the help of new weaponry that had
been sent to them over the last few days.
President Kumaratunga says the battle has not reached
the stage yet when the government might require help
to evacuate soldiers and civilians.
There are thousands of troops stationed in Jaffna. Aid
officials have also expressed growing concern for the
500-thousand civilians who live on the peninsula.
The government has introduced censorship on all media
and government statements on the war are impossible to
confirm since no reporters are
allowed in the war areas.
The Tamil rebels have been fighting for a separate
homeland in Sri Lanka since 1983.
(Signed)
NEB/VC/PLM
TEXT:
NEB/WTW/
25-May-2000 07:00 AM EDT (25-May-2000 1100 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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