Sri Lankan Tamil Rebels Accuse Navy of Violating Truce Pact

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Monday, May 06, 2002

Sri Lankan Tamil Rebels Accuse Navy of Violating Truce Pact

Sri Lankan separatist Tamil Tiger rebels Sunday accused the navy of a "grave and serious" violation of an indefinite ceasefire agreement they signed with the government.

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Sri Lankan separatist Tamil Tiger rebels Sunday accused the navy of a "grave and serious" violation of an indefinite ceasefire agreement they signed with the government.

The Tamilnet website quoted a statement issued by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from Kilinochchi town in the north as saying that the navy, in destroying several civilian fishing boats in the seas east of the country on Wednesday, was deliberately creating conflictual situations to disrupt the Norwegian-backed peace process in the country.

"We call upon the Sri Lanka government to prevail upon the naval authorities to abandon its hostile attitude and strictly follow the terms and conditions of the peace agreement," the statement said.

The LTTE rebels also rejected a charge made by the navy that the fishing trawlers were involved in arms smuggling.

"This is a ludicrous lie fabricated by the naval authorities to justify their atrocities against innocent fishermen," the statement said.

The defense ministry said on Thursday that the navy recovered 17 boxes of mortars and six boxes of rocket propelled grenades smuggled in a LTTE rebel boat which blew up in the seas near Vaharai, Batticaloa in the east of the country on Wednesday.

A monitor of the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission was taken to the site of the incident and was shown the weapons recovered, the ministry said.

The navy also destroyed a LTTE boat when it returned fire as it was fired at from LTTE rebel boats among a cluster of civilian fishing boats, the ministry added.

It was the first military encounter between the LTTE rebels and the government forces since the rebels and the government signed an indefinite ceasefire agreement on February 22 with Norwegian facilitation.

The two sides are expected to hold their first direct peace talks in seven years in Thailand in June.

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