Sri Lanka Imposes Curfew on Area Hit by Bomber

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka —  The government set a curfew Sunday in neighborhoods near the site of a suicide-bomb assassination to prevent revenge attacks on minority Tamils suspected in the attack.

Troops killed 11 Tamil Tigers in the northern Jaffna Peninsula, where the rebels have been fighting to establish a homeland for minority Tamils, the government said.

Indian Foreign Minister Jaswant Singh, who arrived Sunday for discussions on the military and political situation, met with Sri Lanka’s foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, and then informally with President Chandrika Kumaratunga. They allowed photographs, but no questions from the media.

The government was still mourning the death of Industrial Development Minister Clement V. Gooneratne, who was assassinated Wednesday in a suicide bombing that also killed his wife and 21 others in his parliamentary district. His state funeral was held Saturday, and funerals for city lawmakers killed with him were held Sunday.

Police imposed the curfew from 7 p.m. to dawn in Ratmalana and two neighboring suburbs--Moratuwa and Mt. Lavinia. But there was no indication if Wednesday’s mob attacks, which followed the suicide bombing, would be repeated.

No one claimed responsibility for Wednesday’s bombing, but the government blamed the Tamil Tigers, since the attack was similar to others the group has carried out against politicians.

India has said that it would provide humanitarian aid to the 40,000 Sri Lankan troops fighting the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam. It said it was also prepared to evacuate the soldiers, but Colombo has not yet requested the help. The island of Sri Lanka is located off India’s southeast coast.

Singh’s visit was meant to mend fences, after the chief elected official of India’s Tamil Nadu state suggested last week that Sri Lanka could be divided like Czechoslovakia, the state-run Daily News said.

India said it supports a united Sri Lanka, but the rebels have supporters among Indians in Tamil Nadu who share the same language, culture and religion.

Rebel advances three weeks ago to the edges of the major city, Jaffna, have been halted, and the Sri Lankan army, freshly provisioned with weapons from abroad, has begun making sorties toward rebel lines. The government reported 25 soldiers killed and 50 wounded Friday in an assault on three bunkers.

The Information Ministry said Sunday that three more rebel bunkers had been attacked Saturday, with nine rebel casualties. Troops ambushed rebels in the Wanni section of the peninsula, killing two rebels. No further information was given.

Each side accuses the other of preventing civilians in the fighting zone from moving to safety. The rebel Web site--https://www.eelam.com--repeated a cease-fire offer to allow civilians in the Thenmarachchi area to move.

The government said Sunday that the rebels had used a unilateral cease-fire on May 27 to move civilians into the Wanni area under their control. The government said most of the civilians were women and schoolchildren, who are now being trained to fight for the rebels.

The government did not give a source for its claim, and the statements cannot be verified because neither side allows journalists into the war zone.

The war, which began in 1983, has cost more than 62,000 Sri Lankan lives.