Lankan army warns Tigers over attacks

Sri Lankan troops and police stepped up security following the attacks and killing.

Lieutenant General Shantha Kottegoda warned the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that the army could now defeat them, despite repeated failures in the past.

He said the LTTE had stepped up organised attacks against government forces in the former rebel stronghold of Jaffna in a bid to draw fire from the military.

"I am very confident that with the training we have done in the past three years we are better prepared today than we were before the ceasefire," the general said, referring to the February 2002 truce with the rebels.

"Our troops will be able to fight and defeat them."

Kottegoda, who retires as army chief Monday, said the Tigers may resort to more hit-and-run style attacks in order to minimise losses to their own cadres following a split in the rebel outfit in March last year.

"They could resort to more guerrilla tactics because they may want to retain their cadres," he said.

Kottegoda, who had earlier been an advisor to Sri Lanka's peace negotiators, said the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse, who was elected last month, must also push ahead with moves to try to revive direct talks with the Tigers.

"We have to make a move. We need to take some steps with regard to the peace process," he said, adding the two sides should be able to discuss the implementation of the ceasefire.

His tough talk came as both the Colombo government and the Norwegian-led truce monitoring mission expressed fears for the peace process and efforts to jumpstart talks that have been stalled since April 2003.

Rajapakse's government has said he wants a new peace process and to "revise" the truce, but the guerrillas have maintained that any unilateral action on the process is unacceptable.

Despite the truce, a total of 12 people were killed in Sri Lanka's embattled northern and eastern regions over the weekend, a military official said.

The government said the explosion in Jaffna, 400 kilometers (250 miles) north of the capital Colombo, was a "pre-planned terrorist attack on army personnel engaged in non-offensive routine activities."

The six men were killed and another wounded when their vehicle triggered a mine planted by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in Jaffna where another trooper was gunned down hours later while another soldier had been killed overnight.

Troops in the island's embattled northern and eastern regions as well as other parts of the island were asked to maintain a high state of alert, the official said.

A soldier who survived a land-mine attack in the northern Jaffna peninsula on Sunday succumbed to his injuries Monday, raising the toll among soldiers to seven in the worst military reverse since the ceasefire went into effect.

"It is obvious that through these violent acts, the LTTE is trying all possible means to provoke troops and create a volatile situation in Jaffna," military spokesman Nalin Witharanage said in a statement.

"In the wake of these incidents, the security forces and the police will now intensify security duties to ensure law and order prevailed."

Hours after the blast, another soldier was shot dead by suspected Tiger gunmen in the same area, officials said, adding that another trooper had also been gunned down the previous day.

The government in a statement said the explosion in Jaffna, 400 kilometres (250 miles) north of the capital Colombo, was a "pre-planned terrorist attack on army personnel engaged in non-offensive routine activities."

"The troops were transporting lunch for their colleagues when they were caught up in the explosion," a military official in the area said. "We believe it is the work of the Tigers."

The statement urged the international community to condemn the Tigers.

"The government calls on the international community to condemn such terrorist acts which place obstacles in the way of furthering the peace process," the government said.

There was no immediate word from the Tigers.

Four previous peace attempts ended in failure in a country where more than 60,000 people have been killed since 1972 in ethnic violence which has seen the Tigers win effective control over large swathes of the north and east.