COLOMBO, Apr 17, 2005 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Sri Lankan police said Sunday that security has been beefed up in the troubled Eastern Province aimed at curbing the spate of killings.
Chandra Fernando, the country's police chief said Sunday that 24-hour police patrols have been deployed in the identified vulnerable areas with additional policemen dispatched for the task.
"There will be additional policemen manning public transport vehicles such as buses and trains," Fernando said.
The Eastern Province has been a hotbed of violence with the escalation of internecine clashes between the rival factions of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.
Karuna alias Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan broke ranks with the LTTE mainstream in March last year.
But the real escalation of killings occurred in February this year with the gunning down of the LTTE mainstream's eastern political leader Koushalyan by Karuna faction.
The police said around 40 people have been killed in the Eastern Province between January and April this year and 20 of them belonging to LTTE's rival factions.
The police chief said the police would be working in close co- operation with security forces and there will be extra road blocks in the three districts of Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee to restrict the movement of armed groups.