News in Brief

Muslim, Tamil factions clash in Muttur, one critically injured

One man was seriously hacked and a motorcycle belonging to another set on fire by angry mobs of two different factions belonging to two communities in Muttur yesterday afternoon. An armed gang had hacked a person with swords in the morning and the victim had been rushed to Trincomalee hospital in a critical condition.

A group of associates of the victim had tried to attack a person who was in the rival faction shortly afterwards. The person who had come on a motorcycle had fled abandoning it and the gang had set fire to the motorcycle. The Muttur police had strengthen the security in the area by deploying additional forces.

Hakeem wants review of SLMM also

SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem yesterday proposed that the Nordic Council which is the forum for the governmental co-operation of Nordic countries, should send a special team here to assess the performance of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

Mr. Hakeem made this suggestion when he met Japan's special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi in Colombo yesterday.

The SLMC leader told Mr. Akashi that just as much as there was a need to review the ceasefire, there was also a necessity to re-evaluate the role played by Nordic truce monitors so that they could overcome the shortcomings in their mission and perform better.

The Nordic Council which was formed in 1952 has five member countries - Norway, Denmark, Iceland, Finland and Sweden and three autonomous territories. The Secretariat of the council is in Copenhagen.

Mr. Hakeem also told the Japanese Peace Envoy that he saw the decision by President Rajapakse to re-invite Norway as a prudent move and appreciated India's efforts to convince the government and its allies the need to retain Norway.

Commenting on the violence unleashed on Muslims in the East, the SLMC leader suggested that Japan got stronger commitments from both the government and the LTTE that they do their maximum to ensure the maintenance of law and order in the areas. Mr. Akashi in response said Japan was concerned about the incidents of violence against the Muslims and the escalation of violence in the North as well and that he would visit the East tomorrow to meet leaders in the area. The SLMC leader stressed the importance of the co-chairs enlightening the new President on the need for an inclusion of a Muslim delegation in future talks and also the significance of engaging Muslim representatives in discussions on the North and East conflict at all levels.

Weather warning

The cyclonic storm 'Fanoos' was located about 500 km to the North-East of Trincomalee yesterday, the Department of Meteorology said in a release.

It is moving to the West. Under its influence, especially the deep sea areas off the coast extending from Jaffna to Batticaloa via Trincomalee will experience very rough conditions, strong winds and intermittent rain or thundershowers, the release said.

The Meteorology Department requested people to refrain from fishing and Naval activities in the seas and be vigilant about latest weather advisories.