Sri Lanka schools closed as crisis worsens

Soldiers and Tamil Tiger rebels traded artillery and mortar fire in northern Sri Lanka today, an official said, as schools closed in the capital over fears that civilians could be targeted by insurgent bombings.

Clashes in northern and eastern Sri Lanka over the past four weeks have undermined the country’s already shaky cease-fire, and the violence continued unabated today on the northern Jaffna Peninsula, the heartland of the Tamil minority in whose name the Tigers claim to fight.