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Jaffna pounded even as peace parleys are on
Lankan military and Tigers exchange fire.
BY OUR POLITICS CORRESPONDENT
October 21, 2006
The Jaffna peninsula saw some fierce pounding by Lankan military and Tamil Tigers as they exchanged artillery fire, leaving one soldier wounded. The attacks came after a Tamil Tiger suicide ambush on a naval base.
Incidentally, the attacks coincided with US Assistant Secretary of State for Central and South Asian Affairs Richard Boucher’s visit to the island nation. Boucher arrived in Sri Lanka for talks with government and rebel leaders in a bid to find the road to peace. The US envoy’s mission is also aimed at pushing the two sides to return to peace talks in Switzerland schedule to start on October 28.
Meanwhile, a day earlier, on Wednesday, Tamil Tiger rebels posing as fishermen blew up two boats in a suicide attack on a naval base in the resort town of Galle, killing at least one sailor in the first such attack on the southern coast popular with tourists. It has been reported that 15 rebels undertook the attack. All 15 are believed to have been killed.
The current fighting is expected to effect a shift in the Tigers’ plans. It may be recalled that a suicide bomber, on Monday, had hit an explosives-packed truck into a military bus convoy in central Sri Lanka, killing at least 95 sailors and wounding more than 150.
These incidents have given an added thrust to peace initiatives from all by the rebels that over. The visiting Japanese peace envoy Yasushi Akashi was told by rebels that they remained committed to talks. The government also has agreed to come back for peace talks. It is not just the US and Japanese who are involved in the push for peace. Norwegian envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer is currently in Sri Lanka and is scheduled to meet government and rebel officials.
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