More than 1,250 civilians have been displaced after Tamil Tiger rebels launched a major suicide bombing against a strategic naval base in northeastern Sri Lanka, aid officials said Wednesday.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said they gave mats, soap and plastic roofing sheets to the refugees displaced from around the Trincomalee harbour which was attacked by Tiger suicide bombers on Tuesday.
"A few latrines have been erected and the sites have been sprayed with antiseptics as a preventive measure against the spread of contagious disease," the ICRC said in a statement.
Officials said the civilians had fled nearby villages when the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched their attack using at least six suicide bombers.
The navy has already begun probing serious security lapses that led to the attack as divers salvaged the wreckage of a helicopter shot down by Tiger rebels.
Meanwhile, security forces shot dead six suspected LTTE cadres in two confrontations in the Trincomalee district on Tuesday while another 11 were shot dead in the northern peninsula of Jaffna, the defense ministry said.
It said a government soldier was also killed and another nine soldiers wounded in the clashes.
Local residents said the town of Trincomalee remained calm Wednesday, two days after the suicide bomb attack.
The navy said the rebels damaged a fast passenger ferry and a gunboat berthed at Trincomalee. The ferry was being salvaged while the gunboat was still serviceable, the navy said.
However, the rebels claimed they had sunk two craft and damaged two more.
The bombing of the passenger ferry was reminiscent of another attack in April 1995 when the Tigers used suicide frogmen to destroy two gunboats in the same port.
The Tigers also used suicide bombers to blast a navy cargo ship on October 17 1995.
The Sea Tigers launched their latest attack as security forces resisted a rebel offensive at Nagarkovil in the Jaffna peninsula where there has been heavy fighting since Thursday.
The LTTE is leading a drawn out campaign for an independent homeland called Eelam in the island's northeast – COLOMBO (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
