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Fresh violence major set back to Lankan peace effort

COLOMBO: A botched attempt by Tamil Tiger rebels to ambush a motorcade on a busy street of the Sri Lankan capital that left at least 23 people dead is a major set back to the peace effort, politicians and media said.

They said Friday's attack, at a time when Sri Lanka was trying to put together constitutional reforms to end the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was likely to harden attitudes in the government and majority Sinhala polity.

"The whole process is going to be delayed," said Dharmalingam Siddharthan, leader of the People's Liberation Organisation for Tamil Eelam, a former guerrilla group now in mainstream politics.

The independent Sunday Island newspaper said in an editorial: "Any hopes of a de-escalation of the violence in the light of progression of the peace effort have been blasted by what the Tigers did on Friday."

Officials said guerrillas had apparently intended to ambush a motorcade of government ministers and senior officials after they left parliament. But one guerrilla blew himself up after being spotted in a Colombo street before the motorcade set out.

The explosion and gun battles that followed killed 23 people, including six policemen, three Tamil Tiger rebels and 14 civilians.

On Saturday, four rebels blew themselves up as commandos raided an apartment and a fifth guerrilla was killed by security forces during the raid, bringing the death toll from two days of political violence to at least 28.

The Island newspaper said the attack would "only strengthen the conviction of the many who believe that peace can only be restored by militarily crushing the LTTE."

Political sources say that while President Chandrika Kumaratunga, who escaped an assassination attempt by a suspected LTTE suicide bomber in December, might want to find a peaceful solution to the conflict there were those in the ruling People's Alliance (PA) coalition who favoured a military one.

Kumaratunga has said she was keen to end the war through constitutional means by devolving more powers to the regions, including one administered by minority Tamils.

She is currently discussing the proposed reforms with the main opposition United National Party (UNP) for a consensus before presenting them to the rebels.

Norway has offered to facilitate talks and Oslo's former foreign minister had already started discussions between the two warring parties before his government fell last week.

Defence analyst Iqbal Athas said that while talking of a willingness to negotiate, the LTTE had also declared 2000 as the year of the war.

"Add to this the threat of increasing LTTE offensive in Colombo the question of meeting at negotiation still remains a distant dream."

Six detained

Sri Lankan investigators have detained six Tamils in the capital in connection with a botched attempt by Tamil Tiger rebels to ambush a ministerial motorcade that left at least 23 people dead.

The state-run radio said officials of the Colombo Crime Detection Bureau were currently questioning the six, who were residents of areas of Sri Lanka's war-torn north and had travelled to the capital.

It did not give details.

On Friday, one Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) guerrilla blew himself up after being spotted in a busy Colombo street before the motorcade of government ministers and senior military officials left parliament.-Reuters