S.Lanka rebels say low intensity war now on

By Simon Gardner

COLOMBO (Reuters) – Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels said on
Monday they see recent clashes with the military and opposing
Tamil armed groups as a low intensity war that will only be
stopped when government troops are confined to barracks.

S. Puleedevan, head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam’s peace secretariat, told Reuters he agreed with the
chief of an international truce monitoring team that Sri Lanka
was now engaged in a low intensity war after a four-year
ceasefire.

“We think there is a war going on, there is no doubt about
that,” Puleedevan said by satellite phone from the rebels’
northern stronghold of Kilinochchi four days after the worst
military confrontation since the truce.

“Sri Lankan armed forces must stop attacks and they must be
confined to barracks. That would stop the war that is going on
now,” he added, saying opposing armed groups including a band
of former comrades must be disarmed to halt the violence.

With more than 270 deaths estimated since early April, and
the worst military confrontation last week since the truce, the
violence looks just like periods of the two-decade civil war in
which over 64,000 people died.

On Thursday Tiger craft attacked naval fast attack boats on
off the island’s north coast, sinking one and killing 18 people
aboard in what the military said was a bid to sink a
transporter ship carrying 710 troops.

The government responded with aerial bombings around the
Tigers’ northern stronghold of Kilinochchi.

Analysts say the Tigers have essentially declared war on
the military with a spray of recent attacks, but do not want to
be seen to be the ones to officially pull out of the truce in
the eyes of the international community and supporters abroad.

The Tigers have pulled out of peace talks indefinitely.

“The Sri Lankan Air Force has bombed civilian areas here.
That is not a situation where both sides can sit down at peace
negotiations,” Puleedevan added.