American journalist wounded in Sri Lanka

An American journalist was wounded in a skirmish between Sri Lankan Government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels in the northern battle field, police and hospital sources said today.

Marie Colvin, 44, sustained several shrapnel wounds in her head, chest and arms and was in a hospital receiving medical treatment

Her condition was stable, and surgeons were trying to take out some shrapnel that had entered her left eye, said a doctor who answered the phone at the hospital.

Colvin, believed to be the first foreign journalist to travel to the rebel-held northern territory since 1995, was caught in the skirmish near the northern Vavuniya town today, hours before a five-day truce by Government troops was due to expire.

The separatist rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelamn are also observing a truce.

Police in Vavuniya said the skirmish began when a group of rebels, escorting Colvin, was challenged by a Sri Lankan military patrol as they were trying to enter the government-held town.

Gunfire followed and the rebel fled, leaving Colvin bleeding, said a military official, who cannot be named under standing regulations in Sri Lanka. She was taken to the hospital by the soldiers.