COLOMBO, Aug 13: The Tamil Tigers has started self-defence training for Tamils living in areas of southern Sri Lanka controlled by the party. Sources in the LTTE said on Saturday the group had undertaken the programme to make the Tamil community mentally prepared for an ‘outbreak of war’ in the event of the collapse of the ceasefire.

An LTTE member said the assassination of the Lankan foreign minister was an attempt to ‘sabotage the ceasefire’. He denied his group was behind the assassination.

The army dismissed the LTTE denial as ‘part of the usual LTTE tactics’ and vowed to carry out its duties in the face of ‘the gravest of situations’.

SPATE OF KILLINGS: The murder of the foreign minister followed the killings of two policemen and a Tamil news presenter and her husband in the heart of Colombo on Friday.