 Sri Lanka's navy yesterday accused Tamil Tiger rebels of killing 13 sailors in an ambush that European peace monitors said put the country's fragile ceasefire in jeopardy. | Dead sailors generally being a impediment to peace treaties... |
Nearly a year after the Boxing Day tsunami appeared to have brought together the two sides of a two-decade old conflict, there are growing signs of hostilities that could erupt once again into war. The attackers fired rocket-propelled grenades and triggered a land mine in an assault on about 30 sailors travelling by road toward their base in Mannar district, 135 miles north of the capital, Colombo, said Commander Jayantha Perera, a navy spokesman | RPGs and land mines. Very hard to miss those signs. |
Some 13 sailors were killed, with two wounded, he said.
The government blamed the Tamil Tigers and said the "pre-planned and inhuman attacks are an impediment to the government's efforts to achieve peace". But the rebels, who agreed to a ceasefire in 2002, denied involvement in the attack. "The Tigers were not involved in any activity that breaches the ceasefire agreement," Daya Master, a rebel spokesman, said. "There is no connection whatsoever between us and this attack." | "Nope. Nope. You must be looking for somebody else." |
Hagrup Haukland, a Norwegian who heads the European team monitoring the Sri Lankan truce, said the latest violence has endangered the peace deal. "The ceasefire agreement is in jeopardy, absolutely," Mr Haukland said. "The situation is alarming." He added that he and some other monitors were cancelling their Christmas leave."There is a lot of concern what will happen," Mr Haukland said, suggesting that the two sides meet. | [Tweet!] "Adult swim is over. Everyone back in the peas processor." |
Violence has escalated in Sri Lanka's Tamil-majority northeast since the rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran threatened to resume his struggle for an independent Tamil nation if the government fails to address Tamils' grievances. This month alone, 20 government soldiers were killed and many more injured in attacks blamed on the rebels. Security was tightened in Colombo after yesterday's attack to prevent a possible anti-Tamil backlash. Security forces patrolled the streets on motorbikes, armed with assault rifles and wearing body armour. |