Sri Lanka was bracing for retaliatory attacks by Tamil Tiger rebels after the massacre of 26 Tamil inmates at a detention center, police and military officials said Sunday.
Tension gripped central Sri Lanka as relatives prepared for the funeral of one of the victims of Wednesday's slaughter at a rehabilitation center in the area, police said.
They said mobs had tried to attack two railway stations in the region and the authorities withdrew transport services fearing damage to buses and trains as shops closed and most residents remained indoors.
"It is possible that the Tigers could try to attack a (majority) Sinhalese village in the north-east to avenge the killings at Bandarawela," a senior police officer said.
The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said they believed that security forces were involved in organizing gangs from the majority Sinhalese community to launch Wednesday's attack.
"The victims of this savagery are not members of the LTTE nor are they surrendered child soldiers," the LTTE said in a statement sent here from their London office.
"They are innocent Tamil youths arrested on suspicion and detained without trial under the notorious prevention of terrorism act. These young detainees have been protesting against their unjust arrest and demanding release."
Military officials said there could be a repeat of the violence seen last year when the air force accidentally bombed and killed 21 Tamil civilians in the northeastern Mullaitivu district on September 15.
Four days later, suspected Tamil Tiger rebels massacred 54 villagers of the majority Sinhalese community in a revenge attack in the district of Ampara.
"There could be a re-run of that situation and this means the military will have to step up security for villages that are threatened," a police spokesman said.
The LTTE has issued a thinly veiled threat, saying: "The government of Sri Lanka should bear total responsibility for the serious consequences that might arise from continuing such genocidal assaults on innocent Tamil detainees."
United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the massacre of inmates and appealed for calm in Sri Lanka.
In a statement through his spokesman, Annan said he was "profoundly distressed" at the slaughter, which took place Wednesday at the Bandarawela rehabilitation center, 210 kilometers (130 miles) east of Colombo.
"He trusts that the authorities will make every effort by conducting an impartial inquiry with a view to bringing to justice those responsible," spokesman Manoel De Almeida e Silva said.
"He also appeals to all parties in Sri Lanka to refrain from any further escalation of violence, especially terrorist acts, which he condemns in the strongest possible terms."
The international human rights watchdog, Amnesty International, has condemned the killings and called for an impartial inquiry as well as a review of laws that allow detainees to be held for long periods without trial.
Police rounded up an entire village as part of investigations into the massacre, but later freed them amid fears that the police too could be the target of mob violence.
"They were questioned and freed by Thursday evening," a police official said by telephone. "It was tense a situation as the interrogation process continued."
President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who is also the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, appointed two teams of detectives to probe Wednesday's slaughter -- COLOMBO (AFP)
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