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Hunt the ‘third force’: SLMM
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has called on the Government and the LTTE to hunt for a 'third force' involved in the attack on the Chinese fishing trawler after declaring that neither the LTTE nor the Navy was involved in the incident.

SLMM Deputy Chief Hagrup Hauckland said there was no evidence to blame either party for the attack but they needed to take action to arrest the third party.
Sixteen Chinese crewmen and two Sri Lankans on the trawler were reported missing and feared dead after the March 17 attack. Seven bodies have been recovered so far.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in Colombo said they would not comment until they fully studied the SLMM report. He said a delegation from China had come here for an on-the-spot inquiry and talks with Foreign Ministry officials.
The trawler's local agent, Sea-Shipping Pvt Ltd. said they had registered under the BOI to carry out fishing in collaboration with a Chinese firm and the trawler flew Lankan flags.

Meanwhile, Fisheries Minister Mahinda Wijesekera denied opposition allegations that his wife was the agent for this trawler or had any connection with this company. The minister, however, admitted his wife was the agent for another shipping company.

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