Breakthrough in Lanka talks; red alert after rebel’s death

Even as Sri Lankan security forces were placed on red alert today following firing of rockets and mortar bombs by LTTE guerrillas to mark th...

Even as Sri Lankan security forces were placed on red alert today following firing of rockets and mortar bombs by LTTE guerrillas to mark the death of three rebels, in Berlin the Lankan government and the LTTE reached an agreement on key issues as the fifth round of talks between the two warring parties ended.

Troops in the island’s embattled northern and eastern regions were put on alert following yesterday’s incident where three rebels blasted themselves to pieces after an anti-aircraft gun was found on their trawler.

Despite the firing at several locations there were no casualties, officials said. Tamil tigers asked local residents of Jaffna to put up black flags today to mourn the death of the three cadres, pro-LTTE website tamilnet reported. It also accused the Sri Lanka navy and the Norway-led truce monitoring team, known as the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) as being responsible for the blast.

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‘‘Failure of SLMM to handle the incident in a fair and responsible manner, and the provocative, belligerent conduct of the Sri Lanka navy have resulted in three of our cadres taking their own lives,’’ it said.

Meanwhile, the Lankan government and the LTTE today agreed to ameliorate the conditions of women and children traumatised and impacted by the 19-year-old ethnic conflict and decided to work for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of the war-ravaged Jaffna peninsula.

The negotiators expressed satisfaction over the ‘‘forward momentum’’ of the peace process and ‘‘commitment to work together’’ to bring peace to the strife-torn island nation.

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