COLOMBO, July 31: Buddhist monks added fuel to the ongoing war between government troops and the LTTE, by refusing to move out of the volatile eastern region until the army captured a key reservoir blocked by the rebels in guerilla controlled territory in the Trincomalee district. The latest fighting has left at least 35 LTTE cadres and around seven soldiers dead according to military reports.

The LTTE bashing all monk political party, the Jathika Hela Urumaya on Monday insisted its group, which had carried out a protest in the eastern province against the closing of the Mavil Aru irrigation canal by the LTTE, will not return to Colombo till the sluice gates were re-opened.

As heavy fighting broke out between Sri Lankan government troops and Tamil Tiger rebels on Monday to re-capture the irrigation canal. The military said they prevented Buddhist monks and the protesters from marching into the rebel fortified territory where the sluice gates of the reservoir is located.

The LTTE meanwhile described the area where the water reservoir is located as a ‘death ring’ and warned of ‘teaching the military an unforgettable lesson’, as the government initiated its biggest ever military operation against the LTTE in the past four years of a ceasefire which the rebels say is now ‘dead’.

The Colombo-based Tamil newspaper Sudar Oli quoted a top LTTE regional commander as saying that ‘the Sri Lankan forces would be entering into a death ring as the government said the military was approaching the water tank in three different directions.