Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said government forces ambushed
and killed two of their men yesterday, a charge the army denied, as
the body count from recent violence soared and diplomats said war
might not be far away.
More than 40 people have died in the past week, 16 of them on
Wednesday in two suspected rebel blasts in and near the
northeastern port of Trincomalee and the ethnic riot that followed
in which a majority Sinhalese mob attacked minority Tamils. It was
the bloodiest day since a 2002 ceasefire.
With tensions rising fast, aid workers providing relief after
the 2004 tsunami said they had suspended operations in parts of
northeastern Sri Lanka. Diplomats said return to the island's
two-decade civil war looked increasingly likely.
Police said at least two Tamil civilians had been killed by
unknown gunmen in the northern army-held Jaffna enclave, hemmed in
by rebel lines.
The Tigers blamed army-backed Tamil groups for the killings, and
their Web site also accused the army and linked groups of ambushing
and killing two rebels behind Tiger lines in the north and east.
The military, repeatedly hit by suspected Tiger attacks this week,
denied the charge.
"We do not operate in LTTE areas," army spokesman Brigadier
Prasad Samarasinghe said. "They are putting us under a lot of
pressure and they want to provoke us but we will not be
provoked."
The Tigers also accuse the military of backing the ethnic riots
that followed a suspected rebel blast in Trincomalee on Wednesday,
in which a crowd mainly from the island's Sinhalese majority
attacked Tamil shops and people.
"Seven people were cut and chopped and killed by the Sinhalese
thugs while the military and police looked on," said Puracethi,
head of the Tamil Eelam Students Union, a Tiger body. "The police
were keen to control and suppress the Tamils."
The army denies helping the rioters, a charge made on the
official rebel website, and the government blames the Tigers for
the bomb in a crowded market that triggered the violence.
Analysts say the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), whose
two-decade fight for an ethnic Tamil homeland has killed more than
64,000 on both sides, may use the riots to pull out of the
meeting.
"One thing that is certain is that the talks are out," said
Jane's Defense Weekly analyst Iqbal Athas. "The events of
the past few days show the LTTE trying to provoke the military into
a retaliatory strike -- and when that happens, that is when the war
will resume."
The military said there had been sporadic incidents overnight,
with an army major and a soldier shot by a suspected rebel on
Wednesday evening and a shooting and grenade attack in the
northeast overnight that hurt no one.
The head of a Nordic-staffed mission monitoring the ceasefire
was due to meet the head of the Tigers' political wing later on
Thursday. The rebels are angry that the government has not disarmed
other Tamil groups they say are attacking them, but deny themselves
carrying out any attacks. Few analysts believe them.
Military and rebels have different accounts of what happened in
Trincomalee. The army says most of the dead civilians died in the
bomb blast, while the Tamil Eelam Students Union says seven of the
14 dead were burned and stabbed by the rioters.
A witness said a curfew remained in force in the town, which is
partly surrounded by Tiger territory. He counted 15 dead bodies
including one child in the hospital, many burned, but it was
unclear how they died.
Analysts say many foreign investors were awaiting the outcome of
next week's scheduled peace talks before deciding whether to put
money into the US$20 billion economy. Tourism is also expected to
be hit, and aid workers say their work will become almost
impossible.
(Chinadaily.com.cn via agencies, April 14, 2006)
