COLOMBO, Feb. 22 (Xinhuanet) -- Sri Lankan troops determine to sustain Cease-fire Agreement (CFA) with rebels despite the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) the rebel's repeated provocations, the Sri Lankan army said in a statement Tuesday.

    The statement delivered at a day that is the third anniversary of the CFA which was signed on Feb. 22, 2002, between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE and aimed at ending over two decades old civil war.

    It is a momentous occasion for all of us in Sri Lanka because it was this CFA that suspended hostilities and brought about a glimmer of hope to the peace-loving masses, who experienced a brutal war nearly for two decades, the statement said.

    The war wreaked havoc on the nation as a whole, not only claiming over 60,000 lives but also causing irreparable damage to the property and infrastructure alike, it added.

    The role of the Armed Forces as well as the Police in sustaining the provisions of this agreement deserves a special accolade here because it was members of the Armed Forces and the policemen at the ground level who physically contributed hitherto to the success of that agreement, it stressed.

    Of them, the Sri Lanka Army, fondly treasured by the masses as the Guardians of the Nation, has been playing a pivotal role in this connection under very trying circumstances, despite numerous setbacks and life-threatening challenges, it added.

    It also said the LTTE, during the past three years paying scant regard to what they committed in the CFA, has exposed its duplicity many a time, irrespective of repeated rulings given by the CFA monitors, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM).

    According to the statement, the LTTE has so far brutally claimed 28 precious lives of Security Forces personnel while 153 civilians were mercilessly killed by LTTE in contravention of provisions of the CFA.

    More importantly, LTTE has reportedly collected a sum of 4. 4 billion rupee (about 45 million US dollars) by way of ransom, extortion and taxation during this period of three years.

    The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has, according to their reports, received a total of 5,459 complaints against the LTTE until Dec. 31, 2004, it added. Enditem