MP says it is a group of army that attacked the meeting in Jaffna

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian MA Sumanthiran told BBC Sinhala service that Jaffna military commander Maj Gen Mahinda Hathurusinghe expressed regret over the incident.

"Saying that the incident was not good for the army, he also promised to find the culprits and punish them," he told the BBC.

Gen Haturusinghe has however rejected the accusations by the TNA that it was a group of army personnel, wearing military uniforms and carrying T56 weapons, that attacked the meeting to discuss the political campaigning for the upcoming local elections.

"It is a joke to say that a big group of 40-50 in military uniform carrying weapons can roam freely in Jaffna nowadays. It was done by the army," the MP told BBC Sandeshaya.

'Not isolated'

"But as he claims if it was another group, we told him that it is a serious situation for which he admitted that it is difficult for 40-50 people in army uniform carrying weapons to move about freely in Jaffna."

It is a joke to say that a big group of 40-50 in military uniform carrying weapons can roam freely in Jaffna nowadays. It was done by the army MA Sumanthiran, MP

TNA MPs earlier told the BBC they were outnumbered by attackers wearing military uniform and armed with Kalashnikovs and clubs, as they held a political planning meeting in a village outside the city of Jaffna.

Mavai Senadiraja, MP, said about 25 soldiers had rushed into the venue, telling them their gathering was not permitted, and had then started attacking them.

Mr Senadiraja said they didn't actually use their weapons, and no one was injured.

But he believed the episode had been "planned" and he said local people would now be afraid to come to political meetings.

Other eyewitnesses said some people were beaten with batons.

Meanwhile, independent election monitors say that civilian and political rights of the people and party members in Jaffna and Killinochchi were not ensured.

Director of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) Keerthi Tennekoon has said that the attack on the TNA public meeting was not an isolated incident, but part of "a systematic mechanism to harass opposition party members."

Maj Gen Haturusinghe has promised to offer the military's support for the TNA's election campaign to go unhindered, says MP Sumanthiran.

However, TNA says that it has no confidence over the police investigations.