Tigers accuse Sri Lanka of killing priest, bombing civilians

Sri Lankan forces Sunday killed a Roman Catholic priest inside rebel-held territory, Tiger guerrillas said as the defence ministry reported 16 more deaths in fresh violence.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Father M.X. Karunaratnam, who was also a top human rights campaigner, was killed in a roadside bomb attack carried out by government soldiers who infiltrated the Mallavi area.

The priest headed the North East Secretariat on Human Rights, a group active in guerrilla-held Wanni region in the north of the island, the Tigers said in a statement.

It said a "deep penetrating unit" of the Sri Lankan army carried out the killing, but there was no immediate word from the military. Security forces routinely deny carrying out attacks inside rebel-held territory.

However, troops are leading a major offensive to break through rebel defences in Wanni in a bid to dismantle the guerrillas' de facto mini-state.

Earlier Sunday, the defence ministry claimed its war planes bombed speed boats operated by Tamil Tiger rebels, but the guerrillas said only a village rebuilt after the December 2004 tsunami had been hit.

Aircraft carried out the bombing raid in the seas off Mullaitivu on Saturday evening after spy planes spotted the rebel boat formation, the defence ministry said in a statement.

"The air raid was successful," the statement said without giving details.

The LTTE said two civilians were wounded in the air attack.

"Many of the tsunami homes built with the assistance of the German Red Cross were damaged in this bombing," the Tigers said in a statement.

"More than 20 boats and other fishing equipment belonging to the fishermen of the area were also destroyed."

The air strike came as ground battles raged along front lines in Wanni where the military reported 14 Tigers killed on Saturday, a day after 30 rebels and one government soldier were killed in the same region.

Unidentified gunmen also shot dead two public servants in the east of the island on Sunday, officials said.

Security forces have killed at least 2,919 rebels since the start of January while 175 government soldiers have died in action during the same period, according to defence ministry figures.

Casualty numbers cannot be independently verified as Colombo bars journalists and aid workers from travelling to embattled areas. Both sides are known to offer sharply varying casualty figures.

Tens of thousands of people have died in over three decades of fighting.