COLOMBO, May 30: A new factional war is threatening to erupt in the volatile eastern Batticaloa district as the leaders of three LTTE groups jostle for supremacy. Simmering differences between party leader Karuna, arch rival of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader Vellupillai Prabhakran and the TMVP deputy leader Pillayan came to a head early this week with Pillayan reportedly issuing a ‘final warning’ to Karuna to leave the party. One of the main reasons for the split is a financial dispute, sources said.

Pillayan issued a final warning to Karuna to leave the outfit or face the ignominy of being removed by force, the Colombo based Daily Mirror said last Monday. The paper said reconciliation attempts between Karuna and Pillayan had failed and that several Pillayan loyalists are being kept under house arrest.

The dissident guerrilla faction, since its separation from the LTTE in February 2004 has been closely linked with government troops who provide security to the Tiger dissidents who are constantly hunted by the LTTE mainstream.

Analysts say the government’s ‘war on terror’ would be complicated by a split in the Karuna faction which has been blamed by international rights groups for part of the abductions and killings that have plagued the country in the recent past.

Observers point out that war within the TMVP better known as the ‘Karuna group’ comes at a critical stage when the government needs the support of the LTTE renegades to capture rebel areas in the northern Jaffna region, as fighting so far concentrated in the east, which is soon expected to shift to the north.

Analysts say the military which successfully wrested control of the eastern Batticaloa strongholds of the LTTE with the help of both Karuna and Pillayan, equally adroit war maestros, would want the help of both men in flushing out the LTTE from jungle territory in the east and rebel controlled areas in the north.

“The army can’t afford to take sides in this new conflict within the renegade LTTE faction. The troops need the support of Pillayan to clear the jungle territory of Thoppigala in the east where LTTE cadres are believed to be in hiding.

The military also need the support of Karuna to capture the strategically important Elephant Pass region in Northern Jaffna”, a senior military analyst said on Wednesday.

According to sources Pillayan had been instrumental in providing ground intelligence to the military resulting in the successful eastern operations but is not familiar with the terrain in the north as much as Karuna who is expected to be an asset to the military when they begin operations to wipe out the LTTE from Elephant Pass in Jaffna.

Earlier in the week the Defence Ministry in Colombo in a statement said the LTTE was preparing to launch ‘the final war’ in the north to take control of the Jaffna peninsula.