By NNN-Xinhua,
Colombo : Defense authorities said here Sunday that a daily curfew in the northern Jaffna peninsula will not be imposed in view of the Sunday’s traditional New Year celebrated by the residents in the district.
“The curfew will not be imposed Sunday night to help people observe the traditional rituals of the New Year”, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman said.
The Jaffna peninsula is subject to a daily curfew between 8 p.m. local time and 5 a.m. (1430 to 2330 GMT) in the backdrop of volatile security situation in the peninsula due to clashes between the government troops and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.
The decision to lift curfew Sunday came despite an incident where a soldier was killed in the Jaffna’s Nelliady area Saturday evening.
A grenade was thrown by the suspected LTTE members at a military road patrol, officials said.
The Jaffna peninsula remains under government control since December 1995 when the military wrested its control from the rebels.