Special Report: Ceasefire over in Sri Lanka

    COLOMBO, Aug. 20 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan troops who are engaged in a military battle with the Tiger rebels had consolidated their forward defense lines in the northern Jaffna peninsula, defense officials said Sunday.

    Battles continued throughout Saturday at Muhamalai forward defense lines in the northern Jaffna peninsula as the military confrontation entered its second week.

    Maj Upali Rajapakse of the National Security Media Center said that some 88 rebel cadres had been killed in fighting on Saturday with minimal casualties on the government troops.

    "The LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) fired shells and mortars and the security forces replied with multi barrel rocket launcher fire," Rajapakse said, adding that 39 of the rebel deaths were of their women members.

    He added that the Sri Lanka air force had destroyed two rebel artillery gun positions at K point in Pooneryn, Jaffna peninsula.

    The troops had also fired mortars and shells at the LTTE positions in the eastern province's Vavunathivu area from around 7 p.m. local time Saturday night (1330 GMT).

    The rebels too maintain that they had inflicted heavy losses to the military.

    The battles since late July have caused massive displacement of civilians, and the UNHCR estimates the figure to be 135,000.

    Keheliya Rambukwella, the Minister of Policy Planning and the government's defense spokesman said the government was aware of the scarcity of essential food items in the Jaffna peninsula.

    "A ship is being loaded with 3,000 metric tons of food," Rambukwella said Saturday. His colleague, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights Mahinda Samarasinghe, said that the ship was expected to leave the Colombo port bound for the northern port of Kankesanturai on Monday and that the government was expecting to send the vessel under the flag of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

    Rambukwella added that entry and exit points from the north on the A9 highway to Jaffna which were shut last week would be opened for a limited period on a daily basis to provide relief to the civilians.

    The present clashes have left the Norwegian backed peace process in tatters, with calls by the international community on both sides to return to the negotiating table falling on deaf ears.

    The process of direct negotiations after six rounds of face to face talks between Sept. 2002 and March 2003 came to be stalled when the Tigers announced a temporary pull out.

    Since then the two sides accusing each other of insincerity have opted to stay away from the process. Enditem