Sri Lankan military says it killed 21 rebels in separate attacks

Associated Press, Sun November 26, 2006 04:52 COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - (AP) Sri Lankan troops killed 21 Tamil rebels in separate clashes in the east, the military said Sunday, as government forces and the guerrillas exchanged mortar and artillery fire. The government controls the main towns of the Jaffna peninsula, considered the heartland of Sri Lanka - 's minority ethnic Tamils, while the Tigers operate from the area's villages and jungles.
Fighting along the same line since August has left hundreds of combatants dead in some of the bloodiest clashes since the government and rebels signed a 2002 cease-fire that temporarily halted two decades of civil war.
On Saturday, the military said its warplanes attacked a camp housing Tamil Tiger rebel suicide bombers in the country's north. The rebels dismissed the claim.
The camp was located at Iranamadu, near the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, Rajapakse said. The camp suffered ``heavy damage.''
Rebels denied that any camp was attacked, but said that two air force planes bombed a jungle area in Iranamadu, and that no casualties were reported.
Rebel spokesman Daya Master said the government's airstrikes were meant to spread fear among the Tamil people and disrupt ``Martyrs' Day'' celebrations on Monday.
Many fear that near-daily attacks and killings will drive Sri Lanka - back to full-scale war, although the government and Tigers say they are committed to the 2002 truce.
The truce had reduced the violence for some time, but since last December more than 3,200 fighters and civilians have been killed in escalating airstrikes, mine attacks, assassinations and heavy arms fire.
The rebels began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for minority ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka - 's north and east, citing discrimination by the Sinhalese majority.

Sri Lankan troops, rebels exchange artillery, mortar fire

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger separatists exchanged mortar and artillery fire Sunday, the military said, a day after air force planes bombed rebel territory.
The Tigers fired artillery and mortars at troops along the line separating government and rebel forces in the Jaffna peninsula at dawn Sunday, a Defense Ministry official said on condition of anonymity, saying he was not authorized to speak to the media. He said army troops had repulsed the insurgents' attack. No casualties were reported.
The government controls the main towns of the Jaffna peninsula, considered the heartland of Sri Lanka's minority ethnic Tamils, while the Tigers operate from the area's villages and jungles.
Fighting along the same line since August has left hundreds of combatants dead in some of the bloodiest clashes since the government and rebels signed a 2002 cease-fire that temporarily halted two decades of civil war.
On Saturday, the military said its warplanes attacked a camp housing Tamil Tiger rebel suicide bombers in the country's north. The rebels dismissed the claim.

The camp was located at Iranamadu, near the rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi, said military spokesman Maj. Upali Rajapakse. The camp suffered ``heavy damage,'' but exact details were not available, Rajapakse said.
Rebels denied that any camp was attacked, but said that two air force planes bombed a jungle area in Iranamadu, and that no casualties were reported.
Rebel spokesman Daya Master said the government's airstrikes were meant to spread fear among the Tamil people as the guerrillas prepare to celebrate ``Martyrs' Day'' on Monday, when reclusive leader Velupillai Prabhakaran delivers his annual speech.
Many fear that near-daily attacks and killings will drive Sri Lanka back to full-scale war, although the government and Tigers say they are committed to the 2002 truce.
The truce had reduced the violence for some time, but since last December more than 3,200 fighters and civilians have been killed in escalating airstrikes, mine attacks, assassinations and heavy arms fire.
The rebels began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for minority ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east, citing discrimination by the Sinhalese majority

Top Tamil guerilla leader honors fallen rebels, opponents stone his image

Associated Press, Sun November 26, 2006 08:56 EST . COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) _ The Tamil Tigers' reclusive leader led commemorative events for fallen guerrillas in Sri Lanka's rebel-held north, as his opponents on Sunday threw stones and tomatoes at his portrait in the Sinhalese-majority south.
The pro-rebel TamilNet Web site reported that Velupillai Prabhakaran took part in the memorial events at an undisclosed location in rebel territory on Saturday, as bereaved relatives and supporters garlanded portraits and offered flowers along roadsides. The Web site said 18,742 rebel fighters have died in their separatist campaign against the Sri Lankan government. This includes 818 deaths during the past year in an undeclared civil war.
Every year, rebels celebrate ``Martyrs' Day'' on Nov. 27 remembering the death of ``Lt. Shankar,'' the first Tamil guerrilla to be killed by government troops. Prabhakaran makes a highly anticipated annual policy speech on this day.
In capital Colombo, a group of Sinhalese calling itself the ``campaign to stone the devil'' hurled stones and tomatoes at a life-size portrait of Prabhakaran, who celebrated his 52nd birthday on Sunday.
``He is a terrorist leader who killed thousands of innocent and unarmed people,'' said Nishantha Warnasinghe, one of the organizers.
``This day should be condemned by all, we don't have arms and we are expressing our protest in a peaceful manner against this murderous group,'' he added.
Prabhakaran formed his guerrilla outfit in 1972 and named it the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in 1976, to fight for a separate homeland for the country's Tamil minority citing decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.
The campaign flared up into a full-scale civil war in 1983 and killed 65,000 people until the rebels and government signed a 2002 cease-fire.
Prabhakaran built up his outfit as a conventional army over the years with modern weaponry and perfected suicide bombing before any other group employed the tactic.
Escalating violence has killed some 3,200 people in the past year.
Many fear that near-daily attacks and killings will drive Sri Lanka back to full-scale war, although the government and Tigers say they are committed to the cease-fire.