03-12-2004, 11:00 PM
LTTE, renegade rebels point gun at each other on bank of a river
AFP, Trincomalee
Armed rival factions of Tamil Tiger rebels were face-to-face on the banks of a river dividing an area held by a breakaway group, the main guerrilla movement said here yesterday.
The leader of the political wing of the main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), S. Thilak, said their fighters were poised against the faction of regional commander V. Muralitharan in the adjoining Batticaloa district.
"Both sides have their cadres camping on the two banks of the Verugal river that marks the district border," Thilak told reporters here after talks with a visiting Norwegian peace envoy, Erik Solheim.
Thilak said although the two factions were facing each other across the river, there had been no fighting between the two groups, which, according to the military, were within small-arms range of each other.
Both sides have sought to play down fears of an internecine war, but government forces have been placed on alert to avoid getting dragged into a fresh conflict.
The military here said it was concerned after hearing explosions overnight from an area held by the Tigers but that the blasts later turned out to be a rebel training exercise.
Norwegian envoy Solheim was visiting Trincomalee, 260 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo, as part of a previously arranged visit to review the Oslo-arranged ceasefire between the Colombo government and Tigers.
Solheim told reporters after his talks with Thilak that they were keeping out of the internal rift within the LTTE, which entered Norwegian-brokered peace talks with the Colombo government in September 2002.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers admitted yesterday for the first time that a renegade rebel had fighters under his command but warned he was pushing himself into a "dangerous corner."
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said eastern commander V. Muralitharan, who broke away from the guerrillas last week, had a fighting force but insisted his support was declining.
Earlier, the LTTE's main leadership based in the island's north, maintained that Muralitharan, better known by his military name Karuna, was acting alone and had no backing among Tiger guerrillas.
"Cadres under Karuna's command are distancing (themselves) and deserting him gradually," the LTTE's northern-based political leader S.P. Thamilselvan was quoted as saying by the Tamilnet.com website.
"Karuna is increasingly facing danger from among his own group of cadres."
நன்றி - த டெய்லி ஸ்டார்
AFP, Trincomalee
Armed rival factions of Tamil Tiger rebels were face-to-face on the banks of a river dividing an area held by a breakaway group, the main guerrilla movement said here yesterday.
The leader of the political wing of the main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), S. Thilak, said their fighters were poised against the faction of regional commander V. Muralitharan in the adjoining Batticaloa district.
"Both sides have their cadres camping on the two banks of the Verugal river that marks the district border," Thilak told reporters here after talks with a visiting Norwegian peace envoy, Erik Solheim.
Thilak said although the two factions were facing each other across the river, there had been no fighting between the two groups, which, according to the military, were within small-arms range of each other.
Both sides have sought to play down fears of an internecine war, but government forces have been placed on alert to avoid getting dragged into a fresh conflict.
The military here said it was concerned after hearing explosions overnight from an area held by the Tigers but that the blasts later turned out to be a rebel training exercise.
Norwegian envoy Solheim was visiting Trincomalee, 260 kilometres (160 miles) northeast of the capital Colombo, as part of a previously arranged visit to review the Oslo-arranged ceasefire between the Colombo government and Tigers.
Solheim told reporters after his talks with Thilak that they were keeping out of the internal rift within the LTTE, which entered Norwegian-brokered peace talks with the Colombo government in September 2002.
Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers admitted yesterday for the first time that a renegade rebel had fighters under his command but warned he was pushing himself into a "dangerous corner."
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said eastern commander V. Muralitharan, who broke away from the guerrillas last week, had a fighting force but insisted his support was declining.
Earlier, the LTTE's main leadership based in the island's north, maintained that Muralitharan, better known by his military name Karuna, was acting alone and had no backing among Tiger guerrillas.
"Cadres under Karuna's command are distancing (themselves) and deserting him gradually," the LTTE's northern-based political leader S.P. Thamilselvan was quoted as saying by the Tamilnet.com website.
"Karuna is increasingly facing danger from among his own group of cadres."
நன்றி - த டெய்லி ஸ்டார்
<span style='font-size:20pt;line-height:100%'>Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful.</span>