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Sri Lanka's military accuses Tiger rebels of breaching truce

By on Thursday, November 2nd, 2006

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Sri Lanka's military has accused Tamil Tiger rebels of carrying out artillery and mortar attacks against troop camps in the east of the island, despite a pledge to stick to a truce.

A military spokesman said a government soldier was hurt overnight Tuesday in three hours of strikes by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on positions at Kajuwatta, Mankerni and Mahindapura near ceasefire lines.

"The LTTE started firing mortars and shells from Kathiraveli in the night," Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said, adding sporadic fire continued through Wednesday morning.

"This is even after the LTTE pledged in Geneva that they would abide by the ceasefire," he added, referring to failed Norwegian-brokered peace talks in Switzerland at the weekend aimed at restoring a 2002 ceasefire agreement.

Samarasinghe said airforce Kfir jets had conducted a retaliatory raid on a rebel camp from where the mortar fire had originated.

"They were successful in hitting the LTTE camp", Samarasinghe said.

Both sides have continued to fight it out since the talks. At least five people were killed and six others injured on Tuesday in separate clashes in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

The Sri Lankan navy also said it destroyed a trawler off the northern coast suspected of smuggling arms to the rebels, and said at least five rebels were killed in the attack.

Tamil Tigers have in turn accused the government of building up its forces in the north, even as the face-to-face talks were progressing.

The conflict in Sri Lanka is Asia's longest and bloodiest separatist war, claiming more than 60,000 lives since the LTTE launched its bid for Tamil independence in 1972.


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