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Sri Lanka military recovers Tiger ‘submarine’

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan troops advancing on Tamil Tiger-held territory in the northeast of the island on Thursday found a submarine-type craft developed by the rebels, the army said.

Troops found the locally made craft during search operations at the village of Udayarkattu, the army said in a statement. It said troops also found three other craft that could have been used for suicide attacks against the navy.

Meanwhile, government forces captured a key northern crossroads and several bases from the Tamil Tiger rebels, the military said, as the UN evacuated hundreds of wounded civilians who had been trapped in the war zone. Human rights groups expressed growing concern for the safety of hundreds of thousands of noncombatants, reportedly still trapped inside the shrinking patch of jungle and villages that remains under rebel control. Ground troops overran the Vishwamadu junction on Wednesday afternoon after heavy fighting with the rebels, military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara said. The army also captured several rebel camps – including a bunker complex with a luxury room and conference hall – in fighting throughout the day on Wednesday, the military said.

Amnesty International accused the rebels of preventing a convoy organised by the Red Cross and the UN from transporting hundreds of wounded civilians from the war zone. UN spokesman Gordon Weiss said the convoy was allowed to leave on Thursday and crossed into government territory in the late morning.

Also on Thursday, an Indian Tamil man said to be a journalist committed suicide in the Indian city of Chennai to protest against civilian war casualties in nearby Sri Lanka, police said. The man, identified as K Muthukumar, poured petrol on his clothes and set himself on fire after distributing anti-war pamphlets in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu state which is home to 55 million Indian Tamils, officials said. agencies

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