Sri Lanka gov't asks Muslims to ignore rebels' threat

Sri Lankan defense authorities said Sunday they have urged the Muslim population in an eastern town to remain there as the Tamil Tiger rebels would be no longer able to attack the town.

Several hundreds of Muslim families had begun leaving the Muslim dominated town of Muttur in the eastern port district of Trincomalee since Saturday, the district's chief administrative officer T. T. R. De Silva said.

He said the families were leaving Muttur for Kinniya due to the distribution of an alleged leaflet by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels warning the residents to leave Muttur as they would launch an attack on the town against the security forces.

However, the military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said Sunday "we have ensured total security in Muttur. The security arrangements are at a very high level so there is no need for the residents to leave Muttur."

It was only two weeks ago that the Muttur residents returned to the town after spending time in the refugee camps in the neighboring town of Kantalai.

They fled Muttur in the first week of August as the LTTE rebels carried out an attack on the military in Muttur placing the Muslim dominated town under siege.

The Muttur residents said that they would not return to Muttur until the security forces took control of neighboring Sampur area, which was controlled by the LTTE rebels.

The troops successfully took control of Sampur on Sept. 4 and the government asked the Muttur residents to return with the fall of Sampur from rebel control.

Reacting to the alleged threat notice the LTTE's Trincomalee leader S. Elilan denied any responsibility to the letter warning the Muttur residents to leave.

The fighting in Muttur in early August was at the peak of a cycle of violence in the north and east since the end of 2005.

The clashes came as both the rebels and the government ignored calls by the international community to revive the stalled peace process brokered by the Norwegians in February 2002.

Source: Xinhua