COLOMBO, March 7: Sri Lankan troops are bracing for fighting between Tamil factions, a military official said on Sunday, as breakaway rebels claimed their leader was being targeted by death squads and vowed to hit back.

Government forces, which have remained neutral in the deepening crisis within the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were on red alert fearing being caught in the crossfire and ordered troops to take maximum precautions.

"We are facing a very dangerous situation," a military commander in the east of the island said by telephone. "They could target us to drag us into the crisis. We are keen to avoid getting involved and have alerted troops."

Rebels close to regional commander V. Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, said he had received reports that death squads had been sent to get him after he was dismissed on Saturday by Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran, 49.

Karuna, 37, who is reportedly commanding 6,000 fighters, or about a third of the original LTTE force, was leading his army from a jungle base in the district of Batticaloa and was ready to fight back, rebel sources said.

The de facto number two in the LTTE led the unprecedented breakaway after accusing his boss of giving key positions to ethnic Tamils from the north, overlooking those from the eastern region.

Karuna's argument had been that the eastern province was providing the bulk of the fighting force of the LTTE while a disproportionate number of plum jobs went to the Tamils from the north.

Tamils, who are Sri Lanka's main minority, have minor regional differences. The northerners known as Jaffna Tamils prefer to draw a distinction between themselves and the easterners, known as Batticaloa Tamils. -AFP