Colombo: In a serious incidents that may pose difficulties to Sri Lanka's ceasefire, eight people were killed and over a dozen injured when police opened fire on a huge crowd that attacked a camp of special task force in East, apparently after being instigated by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), police said.

The protesters stormed the Kanchanakudah camp of the special task force (STF) in Ampara district on October 9 night, rained stones on it and burnt a resting hut inside the camp, STF officials said.

This is the third time in recent days that civilians are attacking a security establishment in the North East, but the first that ended in fatalities.

Word spread before the attack that STF personnel had beaten up two political activists of the LTTE at a security checkpoint.

STF chief Nimal Goonatilleke said the police had opened fire in self-defence after tear gas proved ineffective. "Had we not opened fire, they would have ransacked the armoury and set the camp on fire," he said.

Some media reports, however, said there was an armed clash as some shots were fired even from among the protesters, who were mostly local residents.

Human rights activists had earlier warned that the LTTE would instigate the people to raid security zones in a bid to force the Army and the police to vacate the North and East.

They had also warned that the objective would be to create civilian casualties by acts of provocation.

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has asked a senior Defence Ministry official to probe the incident immediately.

The ceasefire monitoring body is also conducting an independent inquiry.

PTI