COLOMBO, Dec 4: Six soldiers were killed in a landmine blast in northern Sri Lanka on Sunday which the government blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels, warning that an upsurge of attacks undermined moves to revive an already troubled peace process.
The government said the explosion in Jaffna, 400 kilometres north of the capital Colombo, was a “pre-planned terrorist attack on army personnel engaged in non-offensive routine activities.”
The six men were killed and another wounded when their vehicle triggered a mine planted by Tamil Tiger rebels in Jaffna where another trooper was gunned down hours later while another soldier had been killed overnight.
“The troops were transporting lunch for their colleagues when they were caught up in the explosion,” a military official in the area said. “We believe it is the work of the Tigers.”
The government statement urged the international community to condemn the Tigers for Sunday’s attack and said it undermined efforts to revive the Norwegian-backed peace process which remains stalled since April 2003.
“The government calls on the international community to condemn such terrorist acts which place obstacles in the way of furthering the peace process,” the government said.
There was no immediate word from the Tigers.
Meanwhile, three civilians were killed in the eastern port city of Trincomalee on Sunday.
Sunday’s blast was the worst against government troops since they entered a truce with the Tigers in February 2002.
A Norwegian-led truce monitoring panel expressed concern over the latest upsurge in violence and urged the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to calm the situation.
“We urge them and all other community leaders to use their influence to ensure that violence and attacks come to an immediate end,” the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said in a statement.
“The SLMM warns that there is a real danger that these disturbances and hostilities can spread and result in irreparable deterioration of security and prevent any real restoration of normalcy in the affected communities.”
The statement came after the LTTE put the new government of President Mahinda Rajapakse on notice last month to come up with a solution to the island’s drawn out Tamil separatist conflict which has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.
The rebels warned they would next year begin their campaign for independence and set up a homeland unless there was a political settlement to the conflict.
The LTTE has been fighting for total independence in the island’s northeast, but in December 2002 agreed to settle for extensive devolution of power under a federal system.
In recent weeks, there had been tension in the Jaffna peninsula, the former capital of the Tigers. Tensions heightened on Friday after the killing of two Tiger rebels by unidentified gunmen.
The LTTE has accused the Sri Lankan military of supporting a breakaway faction. The Sri Lankan military denies the charges.
In the northeastern district of Trincomalee, police on Sunday found three bullet-ridden bodies of Tamil civilians who had been taken away on Saturday night by Tiger rebels, police said.
They said a fourth man escaped with serious injuries and was admitted to hospital.
Sri Lankan Tamils constitute about 12.6 per cent of Sri Lanka’s 19.6 million population, while Muslims, make up about 7.5 per cent. The mainly Buddhist Sinhalese are the majority community.—AFP
