Artillery pounded Tamil Tiger positions in northeast Sri Lanka and fighting raged early on Thursday as the island seemed to be slipping back into open war and aid workers wondered how to reach its victims. At least 800 people have died so far this year and ambushes, air strikes and naval clashes had become commonplace, but it was a dispute over a rebel-held water supply that led to the first real ground fighting since a 2002 ceasefire. "Right now, it's very localised," said a diplomatic source. "But I think it will spread because the Tigers need to make the government wonder where to put their troops next."Outgoing multi-barrel rocket fire and the distant flash of impacts in rebel areas lit up the night sky over the port of Trincomalee, while the military said clashes continued in the town of Mutur just south of the harbour. "We have sent reinforcements to the area," said an army spokesman. "But the fighting is still going on with artillery, mortars and also small-arms because some of the rebels are hiding in the houses."
Both sides still say they want peace but diplomats fear the truce may become increasingly irrelevant and a two decade civil war that has claimed more than 65,000 lives may be back on. "As it stands now, there is no reason for any kind of optimism," Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hannsen-Bauer said in Oslo late on Wednesday.
The main military advance to reopen a single Tiger-held sluice gate south of Mutur and restore water to 50,000 people seems to have all but halted amid minefields and mortar fire. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) attacked three army camps before dawn on Wednesday and the military fear for more attacks.