SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers bury one of their top commanders as violence continues in the island state

Record ID: 354204

  • Title: SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers bury one of their top commanders as violence continues in the island state
  • Date: 26th May 2006
  • Summary: (BN05) BATTICALOE, EASTERN SRI LANKA (MAY 24, 2006) (REUTERS) FUNERAL PROCESSION BODY BEING LAID TO REST FAMILY MEMBERS CRYING PEOPLE PAYING THEIR LAST RESPECTS
  • Embargoed: 10th June 2006 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sri Lanka
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Topics: Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA42AJWBM2TFBO0VT6J9X720ZXI
  • Story Text: The funeral of a top Tamil Tiger commander was held in Sri Lanka on Wednesday (May 24) as violence continued to simmer on the island teetering on the edge of civil war.
    Colonel Ramanan, the Deputy Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was killed by sniper fire from the Sri Lankan military at Vavunativu Forward Defence Line (FDL) on Sunday (May 21).
    He was buried with full military honours at a funeral attended by several leading citizens, LTTE cadres and residents.
    More than 270 people have been killed since February in what truce monitors and the Tigers say is now a "low-intensity war", including more than 20 security forces personnel and civilians in the past week.
    Shooting, shelling and fire fights are now commonplace near forward defence lines in the north and east -- where the rebels want to carve out a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils. Many residents fear a return to a two-decade civil war that killed more than 64,000 people before a 2002 truce.
    Three military personnel were killed in a suspected Tamil Tiger Claimer fragmentation mine explosion in North central province of Vavuniya on Wednesday (May 24) and on Thursday (May 25) four police were killed in another mine blast.
    The attack comes as Norway's special peace envoy is visiting Sri Lanka to meet the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the government - the diplomatic efforts aimed at coaxing the rebels to resume peace talks they pulled out of indefinitely.
    The Tigers said on Wednesday Norwegian envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer's visit would likely yield little given an upsurge in violence and clashes with the military. Hanssen-Bauer is due to meet government officials on Thursday before heading to the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi on Friday (May 26).
    The Tigers accuse the army of helping a breakaway band of former rebel comrades to attack them, and say ambushes and assassinations must stop before any peace talks can resume.
    Diplomats say the European Union is poised to ban the Tamil Tigers as a terrorist organisation this month after a series of attacks on the military, including the worst naval clash since the ceasefire -- which still technically holds.

    SRI LANKAN CIVIL WAR
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