The World - News from Aug. 7, 1989

Sri Lankan military officials said Indian peacekeeping troops killed 70 people in weekend offensives against ethnic Tamil rebels in northern areas. An Indian Embassy official confirmed the offensive but said only three Tamil rebels were killed. However, residents in the northern town of Vavuniya reported that 23 of 70 Tamil victims, killed in gunfire and shelling by Indian forces, were civilians. The Indian troops are deployed under a 1987 accord aimed at ending a Tamil insurrection against the majority Sinhalese. The Sri Lankan officials also said that 29 other people, including a Buddhist monk, died over the weekend in attacks by Sinhalese radicals.