India to LTTE:

Stop barbaric acts

Walter JAYAWARDHANA

India said the LTTE should stop its barbaric acts to hold civilians from the last rebel held territory in Sri Lanka. The statement was released after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh reviewed the current situation in Sri Lanka.

When more than 100,000 hostages started moving out of the last LTTE held area, the terrorists started spraying bullets on them on the first day and when that did not stop three suicide bombers rushed towards them and exploded themselves.

Seventeen Tamil civilians were reportedly killed and 263 injured were airlifted to a hospital at Anuradhapura.

Hundreds of others were also treated for gunshot injuries at Army centers before being admitted to hospitals.

An agency report said, A special meeting, attended also by External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Defence Minister A K Antony, National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon was convened amid mounting pressure from Tamil Nadu parties on the Centre to stop the war in Sri Lanka.

"We are very unhappy at the continued killing of innocent civilians in Sri Lanka.

These killings must stop," Mr. Mukherjee told reporters after the hour-long meeting.