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Tamil Tigers kill 11 Muslim civilians

The bodies of 11 Muslim men were found hacked to death in a remote jungle in eastern Sri Lanka yesterday, the military said.

Authorities blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for the killings.

The men had apparently gone to repair an irrigation system when they were attacked, said chief military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe.

One man is believed to have survived the attack and was being treated in a hospital, Samarasinghe said.

There was no immediate comment from the Tamil Tiger rebels.

Muslims are Sri Lanka's second-largest minority after ethnic Tamils -- who are mostly Hindu -- and generally oppose the Tamil Tigers, who have accused Muslims of supporting the government.

The rebels also oppose Muslims cultivating land in areas they consider Tamil territory.

The slayings came amid an upsurge in violence in the island nation that could undermine efforts by European mediators to bring the warring sides back to peace talks.

Separately, a Sri Lankan soldier was killed and another wounded in an overnight attack by suspected rebels in the country's troubled north, the military said.

Government troops exchanged small arms fire with rebels in the Jaffna Peninsula, said an officer at the Defense Ministry's Media Center for National Security who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

It was not immediately clear whether the rebels suffered any casualties.

Elsewhere, the military also blamed rebels for the killing on Sunday of two ethnic Tamils, including an infant, in the eastern Trincomalee district.

Eyewitness said Tamil Tigers accused the victims of being informants for government forces, the military said.

The latest violence comes a day after Sri Lankan battleships and warplanes intercepted an alleged Tamil Tiger rebel weapons shipment off the island's restive eastern coast, sinking the ship and killing up to 15 insurgents, military officials said.

No Navy casualties were reported.

The vessel's crew had refused to identify themselves, but hoisted a rebel flag during an eight-hour sea battle before being bombed and sunk approximately 220km off the eastern coast of Batticaloa district, military officials said.

The ship, allegedly carrying artillery and missiles, was believed to have been headed for the Sampur area, which government troops captured from the Tigers earlier this month.

The rebels called the move a grave violation of a 2002 cease-fire and threatened retaliation.

Tamil Tiger officials could not immediately be reached for comments.

Elsewhere in the country, a series of shootings and attacks killed at least two and injured half a dozen people.

Many fear that this upsurge in violence could undermine efforts by European mediators to bring the warring sides back to the negotiating table

The rebels have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for the country's 3.2 million ethnic Tamil minority in the northeast.

Tamils cite decades of discrimination by the mostly Buddhist Sinhalese majority.

The conflict cost the lives of about 65,000 people before the 2002 cease-fire, which began unraveling in December.

Since then, it has claimed hundreds more lives and driven over 220,000 from their homes.

More than 400 government troops alone have been killed since July, according to the military.
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