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Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger Rebels Decide Not to Extend Truce
Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels said on Monday that they have decided not to extend their unilateral ceasefire which expires at midnight on Tuesday.
"We are compelled to make this painful decision as a consequence of the hardline, intransigent attitude of the Sri Lankan government, which has not only refused to reciprocate positively to our peace gesture but intensified land, sea and air attacks causing heavy casualties to our side," the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels said in a statement issued from their headquarters in Wanni in the north of the country.
"It has become impossible to contain the military assaults of the enemy with our self-restrained defensive tactics without resorting to counter-offensive operations. Under such dangerous conditions we can no longer sustain our self-imposed truce which the enemy has been exploiting to its own advantage," the statement said.
The LTTE rebels began their four-month unilateral ceasefire on Christmas eve last year. They extended the truce every month ever since then.
Earlier this month the government also observed a four-day ceasefire to mark the traditional Sinhala and Tamil New Year but without extention.
The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 for a separatist Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country. The bloody war has claimed over 60,000 lives.
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