The Sri Lankan army yesterday brought in ground troops to smash a Tamil rebel blockade of a water facility that has cut supplies to government-controlled villages in the northeast.
The rebels severed the water supply, which lies within their area of control, on July 20 in retaliation for what they claim was the government's reneging on a promise to build a water tower for adjacent areas under the rebels' authority.
Sri Lanka's northeast is divided into government-controlled and rebel-held areas and the status quo has been maintained since the ceasefire. The sluice gate falls in the rebel-held area in Trincomalee.
"The defense authorities have been tasked with the job to break the blockade," chief government spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella said yesterday.
"The forces have been given all options to achieve the aim," Rambukwella said, but declined to elaborate.
TamilNet said thousands of Sri Lankan troops were moved closer to the sluice gate of a reservoir that is connected with the water facility in preparation for a possible offensive.
"We would retaliate fiercely if Sri Lankan troopers enter," the area, the rebels' political chief S. Elilan was quoted as saying by the pro-rebel Web site. "It will lead to serious consequence."
Rambukwella said water shortages have hit 60,000 people living in government-controlled villages and that 12,140 hectares of rice fields were at risk due to the loss of irrigation water.
Yesterday's development followed the air force bombing of a rebel conference center that killed at least eight guerrillas and wounded four, according to the rebels and the military.
Days of airstrikes have killed 15 rebels, including the eight who died on Saturday, the rebels' official peace secretariat Web site said.
Months of violence between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam have shattered the ceasefire, which was meant to end more than two decades of fighting that claimed the lives of about 65,000 people.
In a letter sent to the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Elilan said, "artillery attacks by the Sri Lanka army and airstrikes by the Sri Lanka air force in the Liberation Tigers controlled territories in the northeast [are] tantamount to a declaration of war."
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