COLOMBO, Oct. 4 (Xinhuanet) -- A prison officer was injured in eastern Sri Lanka when a prison van came under attack, a defense official said Tuesday.

    Four prisoners were being carried from the eastern port town of Trincomalee to the magistrate's court in Muttur, 230 kms east of Colombo when suspected members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) opened fire at the van around 11:00 a.m. local time (0500 GMT).

    The attackers had arrived in a 3-wheeler taxi and no police escort had been provided to the van, the defense official said.

    The four prisoners, two each from Tamil and Muslim communities fled the scene as the jailor was hit on the leg by the Tiger gunfire.

    In a similar attack on a prison van transporting prisoners late last month in the western province four prison officials were killed prompting the prison officials to demand additional security. Enditem