Renegades says kill S.Lanka Tiger rebel before talks

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Renegade Sri Lankan rebels said on
Wednesday they shot and killed a Tamil Tiger rebel just hours
before talks in Switzerland seen vital to avert a return to
civil war, dismissing Tiger claims the army was involved.

An aide to breakaway rebel leader Col. Karuna, whose
feuding with the Tigers is at the center of talks to underpin a
2002 truce between the government and the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said they had fired in self-defence.

“They came to attack us and our people defended
themselves,” the Karuna aide told Reuters on condition of
anonymity. “We will continue to shoot for our self-defence. If
they don’t come (after us), we won’t.”

The Tigers said six men in army uniform attacked one of
their front line posts, killing one of their cadres hours
before talks in Switzerland that the Tigers say will determine
if there is peace or a return to a two-decade war that has
killed over 64,000 people.

“The people entered into LTTE-controlled territory and
ambushed and killed him,” rebel media coordinator Daya Master
said by telephone from the northern Tiger stronghold of
Kilinochchi.

The attack had raised serious doubts in the minds of the
Tamil people about the sincerity of the government of Sri Lanka
at the talks, the rebels added.

The military denied involvement in the incident and
Karuna’s aide said their men were not wearing army uniforms.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has vowed to meet a central
demand to rein in armed groups the Tigers say are attacking
them in their de facto state in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

However Karuna, who split with the mainstream Tigers in
2004 accusing the group’s northern leadership of discriminating
against Tamils in the island’s east, told Reuters this week his
men would not lay down arms until the LTTE did so and would
fight back if provoked.

UK-based land mine charity Mine Advisory Group said it had
pulled its staff from the eastern town of Batticaloa after an
incident at the office of a partner organization. Police said
two gunmen entered the building, said they were from the Karuna
group and threatened staff if they did not cease operations.

“They identified themselves as Karuna members,” said police
Deputy Inspector General Nihal Karunaratne. “But I don’t think
they were from Karuna because if they were they wouldn’t have
identified themselves.”