The main Tamil Tiger rebel group claimed control yesterday of an area where a renegade guerrilla faction was based, and declared a two-day truce to allow civilians to celebrate the Buddhist and Hindu New Year, a relief worker and Tamil Web site said.
Rebels from the main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), based in Sri Lanka's north, launched an offensive on Friday to regain control over some 6,000 breakaway Tamil rebels in the east led by Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, also known as Karuna.
PHOTO: AP
Military officials have said the unconfirmed death toll from heavy fighting between the rival factions was 33, including civilians. At least 13 others were reportedly wounded.
"The Liberation Tigers took control of the areas held by the Karuna group on Saturday night," said TamilNet, a Web site that reports on the mainstream rebel group.
TamilNet said the LTTE was "consolidating strategic positions" in the region surrounding the Verugal River, some 240km northeast of the capital, Colombo.
"Troops under the LTTE are urging scattered remnants of the Karuna group in the district to surrender to them," TamilNet said.
J. Ruben of the Dutch relief organization ZOA Refugee Care said the main rebel group had announced a ceasefire for today and tomorrow so civilians could return to their homes to perform the rituals of the Buddhist and Hindu New Year, celebrated on the same days by the country's majority Sinhalese population, which is Buddhist, and minority Tamil Hindus.
Tens of thousands of residents have fled the area where fighters from the main Tamil guerrilla group and the renegade rebel faction have clashed.
Military officials have stressed that they want to uphold their two-year truce with the Tamil Tigers. The battles between the guerrilla factions have stayed within rebel areas, but the fighting was barely 5km away from a military post in Kajuwatte.
"We don't want to be dragged into the situation, but will be taking all necessary steps for the safety and security of the people in the government-controlled areas," said military spokesman Colonel Sumeda Perera.
The two rebel factions have been squared off since a split last month between Muralitharan and longtime LTTE chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran in a dispute over regional rivalries and political strategy.
The tropical nation off the southern tip of India has enjoyed two years of relative calm since a ceasefire was struck between the separatist Tamil rebels and the government in February 2002.
On Saturday, Muralitharan recalled most of his 6,000 fighters to his Thoppigala base where they set up new defenses. Thoppigala is a jungle area in eastern Sri Lanka whose main town of Batticaloa is 220km east of Colombo.
The Tamil Tigers have fought government troops for two decades in a bloody separatist conflict which has claimed more than 65,000 lives.
Auschwitz survivor Eva Schloss, the stepsister of teenage diarist Anne Frank and a tireless educator about the horrors of the Holocaust, has died. She was 96. The Anne Frank Trust UK, of which Schloss was honorary president, said she died on Saturday in London, where she lived. Britain’s King Charles III said he was “privileged and proud” to have known Schloss, who cofounded the charitable trust to help young people challenge prejudice. “The horrors that she endured as a young woman are impossible to comprehend and yet she devoted the rest of her life to overcoming hatred and prejudice, promoting kindness, courage, understanding
Tens of thousands of Filipino Catholics yesterday twirled white cloths and chanted “Viva, viva,” as a centuries-old statue of Jesus Christ was paraded through the streets of Manila in the nation’s biggest annual religious event. The day-long procession began before dawn, with barefoot volunteers pulling the heavy carriage through narrow streets where the devout waited in hopes of touching the icon, believed to hold miraculous powers. Thousands of police were deployed to manage crowds that officials believe could number in the millions by the time the statue reaches its home in central Manila’s Quiapo church around midnight. More than 800 people had sought
DENIAL: Pyongyang said a South Korean drone filmed unspecified areas in a North Korean border town, but Seoul said it did not operate drones on the dates it cited North Korea’s military accused South Korea of flying drones across the border between the nations this week, yesterday warning that the South would face consequences for its “unpardonable hysteria.” Seoul quickly denied the accusation, but the development is likely to further dim prospects for its efforts to restore ties with Pyongyang. North Korean forces used special electronic warfare assets on Sunday to bring down a South Korean drone flying over North Korea’s border town. The drone was equipped with two cameras that filmed unspecified areas, the General Staff of the North Korean People’s Army said in a statement. South Korea infiltrated another drone
Cambodia’s government on Wednesday said that it had arrested and extradited to China a tycoon who has been accused of running a huge online scam operation. The Cambodian Ministry of the Interior said that Prince Holding Group chairman Chen Zhi (陳志) and two other Chinese citizens were arrested and extradited on Tuesday at the request of Chinese authorities. Chen formerly had dual nationality, but his Cambodian citizenship was revoked last month, the ministry said. US prosecutors in October last year brought conspiracy charges against Chen, alleging that he had been the mastermind behind a multinational cyberfraud network, used his other businesses to launder
RSS