WORLD IN BRIEF : SRI LANKA : Military Says Tamil Attack Force Is Slain

Troops trying to stem a wave of massacres among the country’s ethnic and religious communities killed 20 Tamil separatists who were on their way to attack a Muslim village, military sources said. Troops foiled several other attempts by Tamil rebels to attack Sinhalese and Muslim villages in the north and east, the sources said. The reports could not be independently confirmed. Military authorities say members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, fighting to get a Tamil homeland, have killed hundreds of Muslim and Sinhalese villagers this month. Rebels have denied the charge.