Ambassadors to Sri Lanka injured in Tamil rebel attack (2nd Lead)

Feb 27, 2007, 9:15 GMT

Colombo - A group of ambassadors to Sri Lanka were attacked Tuesday in a mortar firing on an air field in eastern Sri Lanka as the diplomats prepared to visit recently recaptured territory from Tamil rebels in the region, Minister of Human Rights and Natural Disaster Management Mahinda Samarasinghe said.    The Tamil rebels admitted responsibility for the attack.

   Italian Ambassador Pio Mariani suffered a head injury in the attack and had undergone a scan after being airlifted to a hospital, accompanied by German Ambasador Juergen Weerth, who was not injured.

    Weerth told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa his Italian colleague had a shrapnel wound to the head which must be operated on. He said that two shells exploded a 'maximum of 40 metres' away from the group.      US Ambassador Robert Blake suffered slight injuries in the attack which took place at 8:45 a.m. at an airfield in Batticaloa, 240 kilometres east of the capital. US embassy spokesman Terry White confirmed the ambassador was 'allright.'

   Also on the trip were the ambassadors from France and Canada as well as the UN co-ordinator in Colombo. The diplomats had planned a field visit to a coastal town recaptured by government forces from the Tamil rebels after a three-month long offensive as well as holding discussions on displaced civilians.

'The mortar attack came soon after the diplomats landed,' Minister Samarasinghe said, who was also at the scene and uninjured. The group arrived in a private charted flight and two military helicopters.

Rebels also fired mortars at a near by air base.

Also injured in the attack were six policemen, two air force personnel, a soldier and a child. One of the police officers was airlifted to the capital for treatment.

Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that the rebels have shown that they were 'true international terrorists.'

Tamil rebel spokesman Irasiah Ilanthiryan was quoted on the pro-rebel website TamilNet as saying they 'regretted' causing injuries to the diplomats, but blamed the government for flying the diplomats into an airfield that was usually used by the military.

   Ilanthiryan said that the government had endangered the lives of foreign diplomats by bringing them inside the military zone without following diplomatic procedure.

   'We immediately ceased the fire as soon as we were notified of the presence of foreign diplomats under artillery fire, by Mr. Marian Din, the UN official for coordinating security arrangements here in Kilinochchi,' Ilanthirayan said.

    Ambassador Weerth denied the Tamil's claims, saying the helicopter landed on a sports field.

Soon after the incident government troops cordoned off the town to conduct a search operation. The meeting to discuss the government's resettlement plans for the displaced civilians went ahead with a delayed start in a different location.

The attack was the first by suspected Tamil rebels on a group of diplomats.

The government earlier airlifted groups of politicians and journalists to the eastern province for a guided tour into the recently recaptured Vakarai area, 260 kilometres east of the capital and plans were underway to resettle some 40,000 civilians who fled the area during military operations.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa himself visited the Vakarai area on February 3rd and directed that immediate measures be taken to restore electricity supplies, rebuild roads and other infrastructure to resettle civilians.

Fighting in north and eastern parts of Sri Lanka have escalated during the last 14 months claiming nearly 4,000 lives and the government also has stepped up military offensive operations.