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| Saturday, 29 March 2003 |
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Attack on Chinese trawler : SLMM urges Govt, LTTE to arrest elements responsible for attack by Ranil Wijayapala The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in its final report on the attack on the Chinese fishing trawler yesterday urged both the Government and the LTTE to find, disarm and arrest the unidentified armed elements which had perpetrated the attack. The SLMM has also whilst mentioning this point in their final recommendations has identified these armed elements as a serious threat to the ongoing peace process. The SLMM in its report classified the incident as a serious crime and terrorist act but said they cannot say either party is responsible for the attack as they were not in a position to verify the statements given by the survivors. The SLMM Deputy Chief Hagrup Haukland told the Daily News that they handed over the report to the Peace Secretariat in Colombo and Kilinochchi last afternoon. SLMM Spokesman Teitur Torkelsson said the SLMM teams investigating into the incident received information from the survivors, Sea Tigers, Navy and the Police when finalising their report. The survivors, one Sri Lankan and eight Chinese have given statements that they were surrounded by fast moving boats which opened fire on them after sinking their trawler. The Chinese have said that the groups were speaking in a Sri Lankan language and the Sri Lankan survivor has said the armed groups were speaking in Tamil. However, there are contradictory statements by the survivors as one is saying that the attackers came in three boats while some are saying there were eight boats in the scene. "Therefore, it is very very difficult for the SLMM to verify the facts", Torkelsson added. Seventeen fishermen - 15 Chinese nationals and two Sri Lankans, were reported missing following a pre-dawn attack on a BoI registered Chinese fishing trawler in the seas off Mullaitivu on March 20. Eight bodies of Chinese nationals have been found so far from the Point Pedro area. |
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