BATTICALOA, June 22: The government has denied getting involved in the "private conflicts" of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam after three Tiger cadres on Monday said that the military had assisted the renegade LTTE eastern commander , Karuna, to flee the wrath of the LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran.

Nilavini, the former commander of the women's fighting unit of the LTTE who had supported the LTTE renegade militant Karuna, rejoined the LTTE main wing on Monday claiming that the government ministers and the military assisted the militants of Karuna. Speculation is rife as to what led her along with two other members to rejoin the LTTE.

Nilavini claimed that the government had looked after the injured militants of the Karuna faction including herself and had booked them into a leading private hospital in Colombo.

She further said that they were kept in a safe house in Central Colombo with military protection. "It is only because of them (the government) that Karuna could wage war with the LTTE", Nilavini said.