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Sri Lanka's Tamil Rebels Warn Jaffna Civilians Not to Cooperate With Government
Sri Lanka's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels have warned civilians in northern Jaffna peninsula not to cooperate with the army or the government administration, the official Daily News said on Thursday.
The paper quoted a statement published in a local Tamil language newspaper earlier this week as saying that the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels claimed that the Jaffna peninsula was undergoing a serious crisis.
The Tamil rebels said that soon Jaffna will be liberated and on that day all "traitors will not be allowed to escape inevitable reprisal."
The rebels called for cooperation with them to hasten the day of liberation.
In late 1995 the government forces wrested control of Jaffna but the LTTE rebels managed to overrun the Elephant pass, an isthmus leading to the peninsula, in a series of fierce offensives against government forces to recapture Jaffna city in April Last year.
However, government forces were able to halt the rebel offensive with enhanced fire power and modern weapons purchased abroad.
The LTTE rebels have been fighting against government forces since 1983 in the north and east of the country attempting to set up an independent Tamil homeland there. More than 64,000 people have died in the brutal ethnic war.
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