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Fresh Lankan

fighting kills 24

COLOMBO: At least 22 Tamil Tiger guerrillas and two police constables were killed in fresh fighting in northern Sri Lanka, defence officials here said on Sunday.

Government forces killed 22 members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in five separate clashes in the northern peninsula of Jaffna on Saturday, the Defence Ministry said in a statement.

It said an army soldier was wounded during the clashes.

Defence sources said that two constables were killed on Sunday when they were caught up in a claymore mine attack in the northern town of Chettikulam. Three other constables escaped with injuries.

The LTTE is leading a drawn out campaign for an independent homeland for the island's Tamil minority. More than 55,000 people have been killed in fighting in the past two decades.

Moreover, Tamil Tiger and government forces appeared set for a show down ahead of Norwegian-backed moves to bring them to the negotiating table, diplomatic sources said on Sunday.

Sri Lanka's top brass made a presentation to President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Friday on plans to deal with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the coming weeks.

The Sunday Times said Kumaratunga, who tonded in a suicide bomb attack on December 18, made it clear to them that talks with the Tigers will not be at the expense of security forces.

"She said the LTTE will be welcome to enter the peace process but they would have to renounce violence and lay down arms," she was quoted as saying. "There would be no question of the government having to vacate military camps or yielding to similar demands".

Diplomats noted the LTTE also appeared to have escalated attacks against government forces, with mroe frequent bomb attacks and long-range artillery and mortar bomb strikes against the northern peninsula of Jaffna.

The Roman Catholic Bishop of Jaffna Thomas Saundranayagam who travelled to the LTTE-held Wanni region, told a regional newspaper that the Tigers had declared 2000 as a "war year".

The Bishop who met a few middle-level political leaders of the LTTE two weeks ago said there was no sign of any prospects for immediate talks.

He said the Tigers were recruiting heavily and providing military training to civilians in areas held by them.

The LTTE overran 10 bases in just five days of fighting in November.

Diplomatic sources said that both the military and the Tigers may be trying to escalate attacks in order to negotiate from a position of strength if and when the Norwegian facilitation brings results.

Kumaratunga announced last month that she had asked for Norwegian help to broker peace in the island.

Sri Lanka's reconciliation efforts received an unexpected boost on January 19 when opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe announced support for a peace plan unveiled by Kumaratunga in August 1995.

Constitutional Affairs Minister G L Peiris has said the LTTE must be engaged in the peace process. He said he aimed to have a package of political reforms aimed at ending the bloodshed ready within two months.ÑAFP