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Sri Lanka's Tiger Rebels Accused of Violating Cease-fire
The Sri Lankan military Saturday accused the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels of violating a two-day cease-fire agreement reached between government forces and the rebels on Thursday to facilitate polio vaccination in the war-torn areas.
Military spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) breached the cease-fire agreement and carried out attacks in Nagarkovil and Elthumaduval areas in the north of the country. However, the army will keep their word and respect the cease-fire which came into effect on Friday,he added.
In the past both the army and the LTTE honored their cease-fire agreements at the time when health authorities in the country moved into the war zones to give vaccination to children living there.
Earlier this week the official Daily News paper said the government forces and the LTTE have agreed to observe "Days of Tranquillity" on Friday and Saturday and December 1 and 2, to allow the immunization of children under five years against polio.
The government, with the support of international organizations such as the U.N. Children's Fund and the World Health Organization, has conducted National Immunization Days since 1995 to eradicate the dreaded disease of polio for children in the country.
Since there is a lower than average immunization rates reported in some war-torn areas, the government has decided that the immunization of all children under five years will take place this year in those areas which are most affected by the long-running ethnic war between government forces and LTTE rebels, the paper said.
The LTTE rebels have been fighting a bloody war against government forces since 1983 in an attempt to create a separate state for minority Tamils in the north and east of the country. So far more than 60,000 people have lost their lives in the war.
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