August 22, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-us-Sani 23, 1424

COLOMBO, Aug 21: Sri Lanka on Thursday announced recruiting 500 policemen in a bid to curb attacks against Muslims in the island’s east as fresh unrest in the region forced the authorities to clamp curfews.

The towns of Kalmunai and Sammanturai were brought under a night curfew as residents closed shops and protested against the abduction of two Muslim men two days earlier by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said.

“The Muslim residents believe that the two men had been abducted by the Tigers and that is why we have the unrest in the area,” a police official in Sammanturai said by telephone.

Two Muslims in Sammanturai were killed Sunday by suspected members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The rebels denied involvement and blamed forces “opposed to the peace process”.

The Tigers themselves pulled out of the peace negotiations with the government on April 21 after accusing the government of failing to deliver on promises made at six rounds of talks since September.

The government’s top negotiator, Constitutional Affairs Minister G. L. Peiris, said the police recruitment will be in the Eastern province where at least four Muslim men have been killed in the past week including the two at Sammanturai.—AFP