Sri Lankan troops attacked in eastern region

Sri Lanka's security forces have continued to come under attack in the troubled eastern region, defense officials said Monday.

Suspected members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels attacked a police Special Task Force (STF) camp at Thirukkovil in the eastern Ampara district at around 8:00 p.m. local time Sunday night (1400 GMT).

And later in the night an Airforce jeep was attacked by a hand grenade in the neighboring Batticaloa district.

Officials said on both occasions the grenades failed to explode and as such there were no casualties.

The eastern region has been a hotbed of violence due to LTTE's internecine warfare ever since its former eastern commander Karuna broke ranks with the rebels in March 2004.

The LTTE's continued attacks on security forces in the east had prompted the government to look for talks to review the 2002 ceasefire.

Source: Xinhua