COLOMBO, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - Tamil Tiger rebels opened fire on a police bunker in northern Sri Lanka on Monday, killing five people including three female paratroopers, a military official said.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attacked a bunker in the district of Vavuniya, where one soldier was killed on Sunday in a rebel mortar bomb attack, the official said.

"Four guards were killed and three of them were women," he said. "A civilian bus driver was also killed in the Tiger firing."

Last month, the Tigers carried out a similar attack in the same area that killed four people.

The rebels are fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sinhalese-majority Sri Lanka. The ethnic conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.

©2007 AFP All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed. All reproduction or redistribution is expressly forbidden without the prior written agreement of AFP.

top