Tigers Launch Bid to Remove Karuna

12/04/2004| IslamWeb

Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday launched a new front in their offensive to remove a renegade commander in a further blow to the island's faltering peace process, officials said. The main Tamil Tiger force mounted the initial onslaught from the northeastern port district of Trincomalee, but another drive was launched from the opposite direction, military sources and aid officials said. Tigers had taken control over the town of Vakarai on Saturday and from the second advance took several key coastal bases of the renegade leader V Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, the sources said. Karuna's positions in Akkaraipattu and Tirrukkovil fell to the advancing second column on Saturday, local military sources said when contacted by telephone. They said the Tigers were now moving westwards towards a key jungle base of Karuna. They said there was little resistance as Karuna's breakaway faction had withdrawn to a point where security forces had unwittingly been placed right between the two warring factions. Karuna's faction said nine of its fighters were killed and 10 wounded while another 300 surrendered or were captured by the main Tiger group. Military sources, however, placed the number of fatalities on both sides at about 20. At least two civilians - an ambulance driver and a paramedic - were also killed in the crossfire. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leadership, known for its ruthlessness in putting down dissent, said it had started "co-ordinated operations to expel Karuna," who led an unprecedented breakaway from the Tigers on March 3. Karuna had accused the leadership based in northern Sri Lanka of ignoring the interests of Tamils in the east, who put up much of the fighting force in the Tigers' three-decade campaign for a separate Tamil homeland. "We are taking all efforts to bring a closure to Karuna's actions and the resulting disturbances and anxiety caused in the east," the LTTE said. "We will take every effort to avoid bloodshed and loss of lives." **PHOTO CAPTION*** A Tamil Tiger commando guerilla stands guard in Kilonochchi. (AFP/File/Sena Vidanagama)