Sri Lanka operation 'to go on'

Heavy fighting has resumed over the waterway

The Sri Lankan army has said it will continue an operation to secure a waterway that has been at the centre of fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels.

The army and rebels have resumed heavy fighting in the area of the disputed Maavilaru waterway in the north-east.

Both sides say they are in control of the waterway in Trincomalee, which supplies water to 15,000 families.

The UN has demanded an inquiry into the deaths of 17 Sri Lankan aid agency workers killed in the fighting.

The aid workers from the Action Against Hunger group (AAH) were shot at close range last weekend in the town of Muttur.

The head of AAH, Benoit Miribel, has pledged to visit the scene of the killings and "get to the bottom" of what happened.

The government and the Tigers have blamed each other for the deaths.

'Defending the water'

On the military front, army spokesman Maj Upali Rajapakse said on Friday: "Our operation will continue until we fully secure the whole area. The operation to defend the water continues." Water began flowing to farmers after the waterway was opened earlier this week.

A lull in the fighting between the two sides ended on Thursday.

The Maavilaru waterway supplies thousands of villagers

The Tigers say they lost 10 men, while the army says five troops were killed.

The Tigers said at least 50 civilians have been killed and 200 injured in the latest outbreak of violence, a claim disputed by the military.

The government said there was an explosion at an ammunition dump in the Trincomalee area on Thursday.

The army said that damage caused by the explosion was not yet known.

Upsurge

The government had deployed some 2,000 troops in a bid to reopen the waterway.

The fighting then spread to other areas in Trincomalee district.

The worst violence centred on the town of Muttur, some 70km (46 miles) south of the waterway.

Thousands of the town's mainly Muslim residents fled while the Tigers and military fought over it.

More than 800 people are estimated to have been killed in Sri Lanka in low-level fighting in recent months.

Despite the upsurge in fighting both sides still say they are acting defensively and therefore complying with the conditions of a 2002 ceasefire.