Tamil Rebels Vow War If They Are Denied Access To Sea

Associated Press

May 14, 2006

By DILIP GANGULY

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) - Tamil rebels on Saturday said they would resume war if denied access to the sea, days after they sank a Sri Lankan navy boat in a sea battle that killed dozens of people.

In continuing violence Saturday, suspected rebels killed three Sri Lankan government soldiers in two separate incidents in the northeast, the military said.

The threat of renewed warfare by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is the latest in a steady escalation of tensions that threatens to destroy a 2002 cease-fire agreement with the government.

"We move with complete freedom in these waters to transport our cadres and to distribute material needs to our movement," Col. Soosai, who heads the Sea Tigers, the rebels' naval wing, was quoted as saying by the pro-rebel Web site TamilNet.

"We will not hesitate to wage war with anyone who attempts to prevent us from exercising our freedom," said Soosai, who like many rebels use only one name.

In Thursday's sea battle, rebel suicide boats rammed and sank a navy patrol craft. However, their apparent main target, a troop carrier with 710 soldiers, escaped unharmed. The government said about 50 insurgents were killed and 17 sailors were dead or missing following the sea battle - the largest since a Norwegian-brokered truce was signed.

The stark warning came as the European Union said the rebel attack could jeopardize the future of peace negotiations.

"The reckless behavior of the (Tamil Tigers) ... can only contribute to a dangerous escalation that results in growing hostilities and jeopardizes any possibility for future peace talks," the EU said in a statement seen Saturday.

"The attack on a troop carrier and the reported sinking of an accompanying navy vessel is the latest and most severe (truce) violation," the EU said, adding that it backs the position of European cease-fire monitors that the Sri Lankan government has rightful control of the sea.

But Soosai forcefully rejected that claim.

"Every square inch of land we control, and all infrastructure and areas we administer, were not given to us. We obtained these by force from our adversary," he said of the two decades of fighting.

"We have now evolved into a formidable naval force commanding control over the northeastern seas. The price we have paid to earn our sovereign rights to waters is immeasurable," he said of the 1,200 Sea Tigers who have died during fighting.

Separately, a suspected rebel gunman shot and killed a soldier and wounded three others in northern Jaffna on Saturday, the Media Unit of the Defense Ministry said. In another attack Saturday, suspected rebels killed two soldiers in Vavuniya, also in the north.

More than 170 people have died in violence since the beginning of April, and recent attempts to restart stalled peace talks have failed.

The Tigers began fighting in 1983 to create a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils, accusing the majority Sinhalese of discrimination. More than 65,000 people died in the conflict before the 2002 truce.

Associated Press writer Bharatha Mallawarachi contributed to this report.