Sri Lanka foils deadly ambush as war fears mount
COLOMBO, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Troops found a boobytrapped claymore fragmentation mine in Sri Lanka's far north and suspected rebels lobbed grenades at army bunkers, the military said on Wednesday, amid mounting fears of a return to civil war.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) accused the army of abducting a Tamil youth from his home in the army-held northern enclave of Jaffna and threatening to shoot his mother, the latest in a litany of reported army abuses the rebels warn could spark war.
"While troops were withdrawing after picket duties, they have recovered a claymore mine and two detonators with a 30-metre (100-foot) wire," an army spokesman said, asking not to be named. "A small group of LTTE cadres lobbed grenades, but no one was injured."
With both the government and the rebels unable to agree on a venue for peace talks aimed at averting a slide back to full-blown conflict, diplomats and defence experts say both sides are engaged in an undeclared war that has hammered the stock market.
A top Tiger commander warned on Tuesday the shadowy rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was at the edge of his patience and would resort to Black Tiger suicide bombers if the third ceasefire to interrupt war breaks down.
"If the 4th Eelam War is thrusted upon us, not only the Sea Tigers and the Blank Tigers but our airforce too would jointly engage in attacks," special commander Col. Bhanu told Tamil civilians being trained to fight in the east, a pro-rebel newspaper reported.
TIGER AIR FORCE
The government has accused the Tigers' feared sea arm of mounting a suicide strike that sank a fast attack boat off the east coast over the weekend. Their air force comprises up to four light aircraft, smuggled into the island in pieces, which could be packed with explosives, defence experts say.
Deadly claymore attacks killed 39 military personnel in December alone, while dozens of other troops, suspected rebel cadres and civilians have been killed or wounded in a series of clashes and attacks that have intensified since new President Mahinda Rajapakse was elected in November.
The Tigers say they want a political solution to a conflict that has killed more than 64,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands since 1983.
But they have also warned they are ready for war unless they are given an ethnic homeland in the war-ravaged north and east, where they already run a de facto state.
Diplomats dismiss rebel denials of involvement in attacks. They say the fact the Tigers ruined the chances of the presidential candidate seen best placed to clinch a peace deal with a vote boycott show the rebels are insincere and are using the ceasefire strategically to regroup.
Rajapakse is striving to restrain hardline Marxist allies who hate the rebels and prevent elements in the military from retaliating.
Key donor the United States, which has listed the Tigers as a banned terrorist group, has called on the rebels to halt violence, and said the Tigers now face a stronger Sri Lankan military that has been through American training.
"If the LTTE chooses to abandon peace ... we want it to be clear, they will face a stronger, more capable and more determined Sri Lankan military," U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead told the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
"We want the cost of a return to war to be high." (Additional reporting by Joe Ariyaratnam in JAFFNA)
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) accused the army of abducting a Tamil youth from his home in the army-held northern enclave of Jaffna and threatening to shoot his mother, the latest in a litany of reported army abuses the rebels warn could spark war.
"While troops were withdrawing after picket duties, they have recovered a claymore mine and two detonators with a 30-metre (100-foot) wire," an army spokesman said, asking not to be named. "A small group of LTTE cadres lobbed grenades, but no one was injured."
With both the government and the rebels unable to agree on a venue for peace talks aimed at averting a slide back to full-blown conflict, diplomats and defence experts say both sides are engaged in an undeclared war that has hammered the stock market.
A top Tiger commander warned on Tuesday the shadowy rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was at the edge of his patience and would resort to Black Tiger suicide bombers if the third ceasefire to interrupt war breaks down.
"If the 4th Eelam War is thrusted upon us, not only the Sea Tigers and the Blank Tigers but our airforce too would jointly engage in attacks," special commander Col. Bhanu told Tamil civilians being trained to fight in the east, a pro-rebel newspaper reported.
TIGER AIR FORCE
The government has accused the Tigers' feared sea arm of mounting a suicide strike that sank a fast attack boat off the east coast over the weekend. Their air force comprises up to four light aircraft, smuggled into the island in pieces, which could be packed with explosives, defence experts say.
Deadly claymore attacks killed 39 military personnel in December alone, while dozens of other troops, suspected rebel cadres and civilians have been killed or wounded in a series of clashes and attacks that have intensified since new President Mahinda Rajapakse was elected in November.
The Tigers say they want a political solution to a conflict that has killed more than 64,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands since 1983.
But they have also warned they are ready for war unless they are given an ethnic homeland in the war-ravaged north and east, where they already run a de facto state.
Diplomats dismiss rebel denials of involvement in attacks. They say the fact the Tigers ruined the chances of the presidential candidate seen best placed to clinch a peace deal with a vote boycott show the rebels are insincere and are using the ceasefire strategically to regroup.
Rajapakse is striving to restrain hardline Marxist allies who hate the rebels and prevent elements in the military from retaliating.
Key donor the United States, which has listed the Tigers as a banned terrorist group, has called on the rebels to halt violence, and said the Tigers now face a stronger Sri Lankan military that has been through American training.
"If the LTTE chooses to abandon peace ... we want it to be clear, they will face a stronger, more capable and more determined Sri Lankan military," U.S. Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead told the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka on Tuesday.
"We want the cost of a return to war to be high." (Additional reporting by Joe Ariyaratnam in JAFFNA)
posted by Marko at 1/11/2006 12:08:00 AM
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