S Lanka rebels say low intensity war now on

COLOMBO, May 15 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said today they see recent clashes with the military and opposing Tamil armed groups as a low intensity war that will only be stopped when government troops are confined to barracks.

S Puleedevan, head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's peace secretariat, told Reuters he agreed with the chief of an international truce monitoring team that Sri Lanka was now engaged in a low intensity war after a four-year ceasefire.

''We think there is a war going on, there is no doubt about that,'' Puleedevan said by satellite phone from the rebels' northern stronghold of Kilinochchi four days after the worst military confrontation since the truce.

''Sri Lankan armed forces must stop attacks and they must be confined to barracks. That would stop the war that is going on now,'' he added, saying opposing armed groups including a band of former comrades must be disarmed to halt the violence.

With more than 270 deaths estimated since early April, and the worst military confrontation last week since the truce, the violence looks just like periods of the two-decade civil war in which over 64,000 people died.

On Thursday Tiger craft attacked naval fast attack boats on off the island's north coast, sinking one and killing 18 people aboard in what the military said was a bid to sink a transporter ship carrying 710 troops.

The government responded with aerial bombings around the Tigers' northern stronghold of Kilinochchi.

Analysts say the Tigers have essentially declared war on the military with a spray of recent attacks, but do not want to be seen to be the ones to officially pull out of the truce in the eyes of the international community and supporters abroad.

The Tigers have pulled out of peace talks indefinitely.

''The Sri Lankan Air Force has bombed civilian areas here. That is not a situation where both sides can sit down at peace negotiations,'' Puleedevan added.

Reuters SHB GC1933