Special report: Ceasefire over in Sri Lanka

    

A Sri Lankan military helicopter release flares as it flies over the naval base in Trincomalee August 12, 2006. (Xinhua/AFP Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

COLOMBO, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan defense authorities said Saturday that several attacks by the Tamil Tiger rebels since Friday evening in the northeastern battle zones have been successfully repulsed and the situation has been brought under control.

    Heavy exchanges of artillery and mortar fire took place in the northern Jaffna peninsula and the eastern port and the Naval base of Trincomalee.

    "The security forces are in total control," a spokesman for the National Security Media Center here said Saturday. Defense officials said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels launched attacks from several points in northern Jaffna peninsula from Friday evening.

    The Tigers began firing shells on the Jaffna peninsula's Muhamalai forward defense lines at around 5:30 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) and the rebels had also targeted areas of Nagarkovil, Tanankilappu and the Kilali lagoon in the Jaffna peninsula.

    "The Army retaliated with fire and the attacks subsided after several hours of continued shelling," a defense official said. Several Tiger boats were destroyed in the Kilali lagoon as they attempted to make a landing, causing heavy casualties to the rebels.

    The Army dismissed as false claims in a pro-Tiger website that the rebels had carried out an air raid on the military's Palali air base in Jaffna. Jaffna residents said the rebels' Voice of Tiger radio had advised civilians in the Jaffna suburbs of Eluthumattuval, Kodikamam and Kachchai to move into safer locations.

    The Tiger attack on the eastern Naval base and the Trincomalee harbor began at around 2 a.m. local time (2030 GMT) Saturday, Naval officials said. But by 6 a.m. local time (0030 GMT), the attack had come to a halt as the security forces hit back, officials said.

    The LTTE fired artillery from Sampur, an area under LTTE control south of the Trincomalee harbor. Sources said at least one civilian was killed while several others were injured when a Tiger shell landed near the Prima flour factory in Trincomalee.

    The attack on Trincomalee by the rebels was the second of its kind this month. On August 1, the LTTE fired artillery and mortars targeting a Sri Lankan troops carrier vessel as it was just about to enter the port.

    The fighting is a continuation of clashes which erupted between the two sides late July due to a decision by the rebels to shut down an irrigation sluice gate in the eastern province.

    The Army made its first open advance since the February 2002 cease-fire aimed at seizing the sluice gate forcibly shut down by the rebels denying water to the civilians.

    The water spat and the fights that ensued caused a large scale displacement of local people from Muttur last week.

    The rebels claimed on Thursday that 42,000 people in the areas under their control in the northeastern province were displaced due to Sri Lanka Airforce raids on Tiger positions there.

    The fighting is the worst since the two sides entered the Norwegian backed peace process in 2002.

    More than 64,000 people have been killed since the mid 1980s in the armed conflict where the Tamil Tiger seeks a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east provinces. Enditem