Sri Lanka military says kills 49 rebels, bombs north
(Adds EU and Canada statement)
By Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO, April 7 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka air force jets bombed rebel positions in the far north on Monday while troops killed 49 Tamil Tiger rebels in fresh fighting, the military said.
The air raids on the black Tiger or suicide-cadre training base, in rebel-held Kilinochchi in the north of the country, came a day after a suspected rebel suicide bomber killed the highways minister and 13 others attending a marathon race near the capital on Sunday.
The air force also attacked a rebel bunker line in the northern Jaffna peninsula.
The Sri Lankan government has asked high-profile targets who face threats from the Tigers, and the general public, to be vigilant against more attacks due to rebel defeats in northern battle fronts.
"They (the rebels) are desperate," said Lakshman Hulugalla, director general at the Media Centre for National Security. "With the defeats that the LTTE are having in the north, they will try more. So we have asked politicians ... to be more vigilant." Sunday's attack came during an offensive launched by the Sri Lankan military on the northern strongholds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in which the military said 47 rebels and a soldier were killed. The military said two other rebels were killed in Monday's fighting.
The rebels have in the past hit back with bombings in Colombo and in the relatively peaceful south of the island when they have come under military pressure in the north and east.
The Tigers, who are fighting for an independent state in the north and east of the island in a 25-year civil war that has killed an estimated 70,000 people, were not available for comment on the latest fighting, air raids and the suicide bombing.
The government and rebels make death toll claims that are rarely possible to verify independently.
MINISTER KILLED
Highways and Road Development Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, 55, was a member of the government negotiating team for failed peace talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels two years ago, and the second minister to be killed since January, when minister for nation building, D.M. Dassanayake, died in a roadside blast.
The EU and Canada condemned the suicide attack and called for a halt to all forms of terrorism and violence against civilians. The EU said it continues to believe there can be no military solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka, only a negotiated one.
Nordic truce monitors, who blamed troops and rebels for repeated abuses, were banished by the government after President Mahinda Rajapaksa formally scrapped a 6-year truce in January, accusing the rebels of using it to regroup and re-arm, and vowed to fight them militarily.
Analysts say the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of the long-running war, given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east.
But they see no clear winner on the horizon.
"Threats to VIP's, important installations and senior military officials remain," said Iqbal Athas, an analyst with Jane's Defence Weekly in Colombo. (Editing by Bill Tarrant)
By Ranga Sirilal
COLOMBO, April 7 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka air force jets bombed rebel positions in the far north on Monday while troops killed 49 Tamil Tiger rebels in fresh fighting, the military said.
The air raids on the black Tiger or suicide-cadre training base, in rebel-held Kilinochchi in the north of the country, came a day after a suspected rebel suicide bomber killed the highways minister and 13 others attending a marathon race near the capital on Sunday.
The air force also attacked a rebel bunker line in the northern Jaffna peninsula.
The Sri Lankan government has asked high-profile targets who face threats from the Tigers, and the general public, to be vigilant against more attacks due to rebel defeats in northern battle fronts.
"They (the rebels) are desperate," said Lakshman Hulugalla, director general at the Media Centre for National Security. "With the defeats that the LTTE are having in the north, they will try more. So we have asked politicians ... to be more vigilant." Sunday's attack came during an offensive launched by the Sri Lankan military on the northern strongholds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in which the military said 47 rebels and a soldier were killed. The military said two other rebels were killed in Monday's fighting.
The rebels have in the past hit back with bombings in Colombo and in the relatively peaceful south of the island when they have come under military pressure in the north and east.
The Tigers, who are fighting for an independent state in the north and east of the island in a 25-year civil war that has killed an estimated 70,000 people, were not available for comment on the latest fighting, air raids and the suicide bombing.
The government and rebels make death toll claims that are rarely possible to verify independently.
MINISTER KILLED
Highways and Road Development Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, 55, was a member of the government negotiating team for failed peace talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels two years ago, and the second minister to be killed since January, when minister for nation building, D.M. Dassanayake, died in a roadside blast.
The EU and Canada condemned the suicide attack and called for a halt to all forms of terrorism and violence against civilians. The EU said it continues to believe there can be no military solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka, only a negotiated one.
Nordic truce monitors, who blamed troops and rebels for repeated abuses, were banished by the government after President Mahinda Rajapaksa formally scrapped a 6-year truce in January, accusing the rebels of using it to regroup and re-arm, and vowed to fight them militarily.
Analysts say the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of the long-running war, given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east.
But they see no clear winner on the horizon.
"Threats to VIP's, important installations and senior military officials remain," said Iqbal Athas, an analyst with Jane's Defence Weekly in Colombo. (Editing by Bill Tarrant)
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