SL rebels attack army camps near east harbour

Colombo, Aug 2: Tamil Tiger rebels attacked three army camps near a strategic eastern Sri Lankan port before dawn today, military sources said, a day after rebel suicide bombers tried to sink a troop transport ship with 850 aboard.

There were no immediate details of any casualties in the attacks in the restive eastern district of Trincomalee, which come as the battle front for control over a water sluice in the restive east widens.

Diplomats and analysts increasingly fear a return to a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.

''The Tigers have fired artillery at three camps,'' one military source told Reuters. ''Communications with one of those camps has been lost.'' Nordic truce monitors say a 2002 ceasefire has broken down in all but name and that the foes are locked in a low intensity war. Well over 800 people have died in a series of attacks and military clashes so far this year.

Yesterday, a senior rebel in the east said an army offensive meant the ceasefire was over and that the war had started. But the government says it remains committed to the ceasefire and the Tigers say they are only acting defensively.

''This certainly looks like a war,'' said one diplomat. ''Neither side has shown any sign of wanting to de-escalate this situation and seek peace.'' Four sailors and several Tigers were killed when the rebels fired artillery and mortars at Trincomalee harbour on Tuesday as gunboats attacked the transporter ship. The navy said three small Sea Tiger craft were sunk and three others were damaged.

Air force jets have bombed rebel positions in the east for seven straight days.

The government accuses the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of attempted ethnic cleansing through cutting off the water supply to some 50,000 people, but said they were still committed to a fading 2002 ceasefire.

''Denying civilians water is a war crime,'' said Dr Palitha Kohona, head of the government's peace secretariat. ''Wars have started over less. Look at Lebanon.''

Reuters

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