Lankan jets pound LTTE areas
96 rebels among 131 killed
COLOMBO, May 11 — Sri Lankan air force planes today pounded LTTE positions as fierce fighting raged near Jaffna town tonight which left 131 persons, 96 LTTE rebels and 35 troops, dead as the government denied reports that the army’s only airbase in the peninsula at Palaly has come under rebel attack.

PM rules out recognition to Tamil Eelam
NEW DELHI, May 11 — Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee today ruled out granting recognition to Tamil Eelam in the event of Jaffna falling to the LTTE as Norway said that there could be no solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka without New Delhi playing a “positive role”.

Centre told about Jain’s police remand
CHANDIGARH, May 11 — The Chandigarh Administration has sent a formal report to the Union Home Ministry about extension in police remand of its Home Secretary, Mr N.K. Jain, in a corruption case suggesting action under the All-India Civil Service Rules.

3 held in Sirhind blast case
FATEHGARH SAHIB, May 11 — With the arrest of three members of the Khalistan-Zindabad Commando Force, the district police claimed to have solved the bomb blast case on March 3 in a Jhang Travel bus from Jammu to Delhi near Sirhind town in which nine persons lost their lives and several others were injured.

Pakistan softens stance?
JAMMU, May 11 — Although Pakistani agencies have softened their stance over the proposed talks between the Government of India and leaders of the Hurriyat Conference yet there is no indication that the agencies across the border have plans of going slow as far as moral and material support to the militants, operating in Jammu and Kashmir, is concerned.