Lanka says rebel factions clash; Tigers deny it

Colombo, June 21: Sri Lanka's military said eight Tamil Tigers were killed during an overnight clash with a band of breakaway former comrades, but the rebels denied it today and accused the army of shelling their territory.

''There was an incident between the Karuna faction and the LTTE in Trincomalee just after midnight. There was some firing going on from both sides,'' said a senior military source, asking not to be identified.

''Ground and technical sources revealed eight Tiger cadres had been killed,'' he added. ''Government forces were not involved.'' The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) yesterday recommitted to a 2002 ceasefire and vowed to ensure the safety of Nordic truce monitors, but many fear a rash of escalating violence in particular a Tiger feud with a renegade commander called Karuna could still spiral into renewed civil war.

The Tigers warned yesterday that attacks by the Karuna group, which they accuse of colluding with the military, pose ''a big threat to the ceasefire and peace process'' amid a rash of violence that has killed more than 700 people so far this year.

''Our forward defence lines were shelled in Trincomalee,'' Puratchi, head of the Tiger student union there, told Reuters by telephone. ''But no-one was killed or injured.'' ''We don't think Karuna was involved. It was military forces,'' he added.

Reuters

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