Human rights activist Father M. Karunaratnam was killed on April 20 by a roadside bomb in the Mallavi area in northern Sri Lanka. The region is controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
The Peace Secretariat of the LTTE announced that the priest was targeted by the Sri Lankan military’s Deep Penetration Unit. The government denied any responsibility despite its ongoing offensive aimed at LTTE forces on at least three different fronts in the north.
On the same day, the military announced that air strikes had destroyed boats and killed almost 30 LTTE members. The LTTE countered the statement, saying that the military had destroyed a village recently rebuilt after the 2004 tsunami as well as many fishing boats and equipment used by local residents.
The LTTE has been fighting a national liberation struggle in Sri Lanka since 1975.
