India rejects Lanka's LTTE camps claim

India reacted strongly to Sri Lanka's allegations of the presence of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam camps in the country on Thursday, and 'categorically' denied the existence of such camps in Tamil Nadu. It has also asked Colombo to 'desist from reacting to speculative and uncorroborated reports.'

"We have seen reports from Sri Lanka referring to the Sri Lankan Prime Minister D M Jayaratne's statement in their Parliament alluding to the presence of LTTE training camps in Tamil Nadu. We categorically deny the existence of any such camps," said an official spokesperson in the ministry of external affairs.

He added that the Sri Lankan government has also not taken up this issue with India. "Such a reference is indeed unfortunate and we urge them to desist from reacting to speculative and uncorroborated reports," he added.

Jayaratne had said that Vinayagam, a former Lanka rebel heads the operations in India with the assistance of one Oslo-based Nediyavan, and added that there was a chance that India-trained LTTE cadres may carry out attacks in Sri Lanka.