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COLOMBO (Reuters): Sri Lanka's Air Force bombed Tamil Tiger targets in the island's restive east on Wednesday for the first time since peace talks collapsed at the weekend, the military said, amid fears renewed civil war will escalate.
The air raid in the restive eastern district of Batticaloa comes after three days of artillery and mortar fire duelling in the north and east, and as the newly arrived delegation from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) flew by military helicopter back to their northern stronghold of Kilinochchi.
“They are firing artillery and mortar fire at us in the east, so we have retaliated by neutralising targets with an air raid,” military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarainghe told Reuters.
The Tigers were not immediately available for comment and there were no details of any casualties.
In separate incidents, suspected rebels detonated a Claymore fragmentation mine in the northern district of Vavuniya early on Wednesday, killing a civilian, while the Navy sank a suspected rebel arms transport boat off the northwest coast on Tuesday.
The talks in Geneva collapsed on Sunday over the government's closure in August of the main north-south A-9 highway, which runs through rebel territory and to the isolated, northern army-held Jaffna peninsula.
The government has so far refused to reopen the road, arguing that rebel artillery fire makes it unsafe and that the Tigers have been moving troops and munitions on it and raise war funds by demanding a “tax” from vehicles passing along it.
Residents in predominantly Tamil Jaffna say the closure and the fighting is making their lives misery, with food and fuel in short supply and the near daily boom of artillery making it hard for them to sleep. The military is shipping essential rations in by boat and air, but residents say it is not enough.
The government's chief peace negotiator said on Tuesday it would reopen the highway if the rebels halt attacks.
The Tigers have not yet responded.
Many analysts and ordinary Sri Lankans fear the collapse of the talks could signal the escalation of a new chapter of a two-decade civil war that has already killed more than 65,000 people since 1983 and displaced tens of thousands from their homes.
