War planes pound Tiger rebels
2006-08-01 08:43
Colombo - Sri Lankan war planes pounded Tiger positions on Tuesday after one of the bloodiest days in the island's recent history left 67 soldiers and rebels dead and stretched a tattered truce to breaking point.
Official said Israeli-built Kfir jets carried out bombing sorties around dawn on Tuesday near the Maavilaru irrigation canal which the rebels blocked 10 days ago sparking bitter fighting.
The army also fired rockets and artillery at Tamil Tiger targets while the rebels hit back with mortar fire.
There were no immediate reports of casualties in the latest air attacks which came just hours after the rebels were held responsible for blowing up a bus transporting reinforcements to the Maavilaru area, killing 19 soldiers.
New spike in violence
The bus bombing caused the biggest single loss for the security forces in a road side bombing since they entered into a truce with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in February 2002.
However, despite the new spike in violence, international truce monitors said they still believed that neither side wanted to re-ignite a war that has claimed more than 60 000 lives in the past three decades.
"I still don't believe in a full-scale war," Ulf Henriccson, the retired Swedish general who leads the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), told journalists in Colombo on Monday.
He suggested the fighting could ultimately lead to new negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE.
The soldiers on the bus that was ripped apart on Monday night were on their way to join fighting against the Tigers in the northeastern district of Trincomalee.
The government has launched an offensive in the region to try to take control of a key waterway which the Tigers seized 10 days ago. Military officials said 35 rebels and nine soldiers died in Monday's fighting.
They said four other rebels died in an army attack in the island's northern Jaffna peninsula.
'Humanitarian' operation
The Tigers have accused the government of pushing the nation to the brink of war with the new offensive.
Defence spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella described the offensive as a "humanitarian" operation to free up the Maavilaru waterway and get water to thousands of needy farmers.
However truce monitor Henricsson criticised the government action which he said could damage the small dam at Maavilaru.
Neither the Tigers nor the government have made official statements on pulling out of the February 2002 ceasefire even though each side has accused the other of violations that have escalated since December.
The truce brokered by Norway can be terminated either by the Tigers or Colombo with a written declaration giving two weeks' notice.
In a further threat to the truce, the LTTE has demanded that monitors from European Union members Finland, Denmark and Sweden leave the island after the EU added it to a list of "terrorist" organisations in May.
- AFP