Sri Lanka government Saturday accused the Tamil Tigers of killing over 100 civilians including women and children for supporting the security forces in the Muslim dominated town of Muttur in the eastern province.

A statement from the National Security Media Center said that while the displaced Muslim were fleeing Muttur, "Tigers blocked them at Pachchanoor area and killed over hundred including women, youth and children during night on Friday."

These civilians had been supporting the troops before the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) began pounding the Muttur town with mortar and shell fire in the early hours of Wednesday.

There was no immediate response from the LTTE to the allegation.

The LTTE and the Muslim have a long history of animosity with a large number of Muslims found themselves chased out from the main Tamil town of Jaffna by the Tigers in 1990 during the height of their armed separatist struggle to create a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east.

The clashes in Muttur since Wednesday drove the Muslim population to the safety of neighboring Kantalai town where some 15,000 refugees are being put up in makeshift relief camps on Saturday.

Source: Xinhua