SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2003
LTTE rebels commit suicide after truce violation
REUTERS
COLOMBO: Three Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger rebels blew themselves up at sea on Friday after Nordic truce monitors boarded their boat for an inspection, just hours ahead of peace talks set to begin in Germany.
Two monitors and a translator jumped overboard to escape the explosion after boarding the boat to investigate weapons, including an anti-aircraft gun, ammunition and hand grenades, officials from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said.
"It was very clearly a violation of the ceasefire. It is clear the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) were transporting these weapons," Teitur Torkelsson, a spokesman for the monitors said.
"The three set the boat on fire and blew themselves up. The monitors jumped into the sea and they are safe," Torkelsson said.
The suicides come as the government and rebels, who have been fighting for a separate state for minority Tamils, were to begin a fifth round of talks to end Sri Lanka's 19-year war later on Friday in Berlin.
A Norwegian-brokered truce that is the basis for talks has been holding since last February, but most of the violations have taken place at sea, including an incident on the eve of November talks when six rebels were arrested on a boat carrying mines.
The incident shows the mutual distrust even as the two sides push ahead with the best chance yet of ending the war that has killed 64,000 people.
Friday's suicide standoff began when the navy intercepted an Indian-registered trawler staffed by Tigers on Thursday and asked the monitors for help after the rebels threatened to kill themselves by swallowing their trademark cyanide capsules if naval officers came on board.
Monitors waited until daylight to carry out their inspection, boarding the ship in the morning, and discovering the stash of weapons.
Under the terms of the truce neither side is allowed to move military equipment into areas controlled by the other side and monitors said the navy has the right to safeguard the country at sea by inspecting such trawlers.
Government negotiators in Berlin for talks were not immediately available for comment.
But talks in November went ahead despite the arrest of the rebel cadres and the sentencing of Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in absentia to 200 years in jail.
The monitors changed their sea operations in July after the Tigers held two monitors aboard one of their fishing trawlers to escape a standoff with the Sri Lankan navy. The two were released unharmed.
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