Senior LTTE military officer killed in ambush

Anti-LTTE Tamil paramilitaries killed Maj Kapilan inside an LTTE-controlled area on Batticaloa-Polonnaruwa border, reports PK Balachandran.

Even as Sri Lankan government and the LTTE agreed to start talks on maintaining the ceasefire, anti-LTTE Tamil paramilitaries killed a senior LTTE military official at Vadamunai, inside an LTTE-controlled area on the Batticaloa-Polonnaruwa border.

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The Tamilnet website said that Maj Kapilan was ambushed by RPG wielding Tamil paramilitaries on Thursday.

The attackers were backed up by mortar fire from the Sri Lankan army's Brigade 23-1 camp at Welikanda, it alleged.

The website quoted the LTTE's Peace Secretariat chief, S Puleedevan, as saying that the Sri Lankan government was playing a "double game", talking peace on the one hand, and attacking LTTE cadres on the other.

He pointed out that the LTTE had, in a gesture of goodwill, released a Sri Lankan policeman who was in its custody, following Wednesday's high-level agreement to restart talks.