Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels were suspected of a bomb attack yesterday on a Buddhist feast day that killed 23 people, as both the guerrillas and the government claimed to have inflicted heavy casualties in battles.
Authorities in the capital, Colombo, accused the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of carrying out the attack near a Buddhist temple in the town of Batticaloa.
Large crowds had gathered around a colourful illuminated structure in the town to mark the feast of Wesak, the most important holiday in the Buddhist calendar, officials said. International aid workers who rushed to the main hospital in Batticaloa said that 15 people died on the spot, including five children aged less than eight.
Local officials said by telephone that three police were also killed.
The Tamil Tigers gave no immediate reaction to the bombing, but claimed in a statement issued yesterday to have killed more than 100 soldiers in the northern peninsula of Jaffna after a 12-hour battle. They said they overran a military base at Kaithady and captured a large haul of weapons and armoured cars.
Their statement did not give rebel casualties, but claimed that fleeing soldiers left behind their dead.
The rebels also denied they had shelled densely populated parts of Jaffna town, which they are attempting to retake after losing it to government forces in December 1995.
The Sri Lankan military authorities, in a statement issued in Colombo, claimed to have beaten back the offensive and to have killed more than 39 Tiger rebels. They also did not give their own casualty figures.