Special report: Ceasefire over in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan government soldiers arrive to secure Vignashpuram village in Batticaloa, November 11, 2006. (Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo Gallery >>>

    COLOMBO, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka's security situation continued to deteriorate after the failed Geneva talks between the government and the rebel Tamil Tigers as clashes continued and more people being killed.

    The government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) held talks on Oct. 28-29 in Geneva to honor the Norwegian-brokered truce and find peaceful solution to the country's ethnic conflict that killed more than 64,000 from the mid-1980s to 2002.

    However, the first round of talks between the two parties failed because the LTTE asked the government to reopen a strategic highway linking the rebel held north with the south but the government refused to do so citing security concern.

    The A9 highway has been closed after Aug. 11 when the LTTE launched attacks on the government troops in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

    Although no agreement was reached in Geneva, the two sides reiterated their commitment to the cease-fire agreement and promised not to launch any military offensives.

    But heavy fighting between the two parties immediately reoccurred after the talks.

    On Oct. 31, only one day after the failed talks, the Sri Lankan Navy destroyed a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel arms ship in the north. A larger number of mortar bombs and ammunition were recovered by the Navy from the site.

    The most serious clash between the two sides happened on Thursday in the seas of Jaffna peninsula and the two sides gave different versions of the battle.

    The military said some 16 LTTE craft including suicide boats had targeted a ship carrying 308 Tamil civilians from the eastern port of Trincomalee to the northern port of Kankasanturai.

    "The sea Tigers attempt was intercepted by a Sri Lankan Navy patrol four nautical miles northeast of Point Pedro and was heavily beaten forcing the sea Tigers to flee the area with heavy damages," said the military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe.

    The military said at least eight of the rebel boats were destroyed while two Navy Dvora fast attack craft were also destroyed. At least nine sailors were reported missing in the clash.

    On the other hand, the LTTE's military spokesman Irasiah Ilanthirayan said the clash erupted as sea Tigers engaged in training activities were provoked by Navy vessels. Ilanthirayan also said there was no civilian ship observed during the fighting.

    Ilanthirayan said 25 Navy troopers were killed and four troopers were captured alive during the clash.

    However, the LTTE said all its vessels safely returned to their base in Vanni after the fighting.

    The fighting came one day after scores of Tamil civilians were killed in a retaliatory attack launched by the Army in the east.

    The LTTE rebels claimed that over 40 civilians had been killed when the Army fired mortars, artillery and mufti barrel rocket launcher fire at a refugee camp in the rebel held Vakarai area on Wednesday.

    Expressing regrets over the tragedy, the government maintained that retaliatory military action was necessary to counter the attacks by the Tamil Tiger rebels.

    The government also accused the LTTE of using refugees as a human shield in attacking the troops.

    Also on Wednesday, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) delegation which was visiting a rebel controlled area in the north to undertake a feasibility study of opening an alternative road to the closed A9 highway narrowly escaped artillery fire of the Army.

    The Army denied the LTTE allegations that they intentionally shelled the area, saying they "were not informed of any SLMM movements."

    The Army said the troops engaged the area with artillery only after unusual gathering and movements of the Tigers were detected.

    Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim, who has been facilitating Sri Lanka's peace process since 2002, said Wednesday that he was very troubled by the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka.

    "I am extremely disappointed that the parties are not honoring the promise they made in Geneva a week and a half ago to refrain from launching any military offensives and to abide by the cease-fire agreement," said Solheim.

    There is no sign the violence of Sri Lanka will come to an end in the near future, the latest being the assassination of Tamil legislator Nadaraja Raviraj on Friday.

    The continuation of violence has cost over 3,000 lives since the end of 2005 and placed the Norwegian backed peace process at peril.

    The LTTE has been fighting for an independent homeland in the north and east between the mid-1980s and 2002 when the Norwegians brokered a cease-fire.