| Submit your comments on this article |
| India-Pakistan |
| Sri Lanka Navy Sinks Rebel Ship, 12 Feared Dead |
| 2003-06-14 |
| COLOMBO - The Sri Lankan navy sank a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel ship early Saturday morning, and truce monitors said all 12 on board were feared dead, in what could be a blow to the island's fragile peace process. "It seems there were 12 Sea Tigers on board. They jumped overboard but as to whether they were rescued, we don't know," said Agnes Bragadottir, a spokesman for the Nordic monitors who oversee a Norwegian-brokered truce between the rebels and the government. Well Agnes, unless they're on the Tamil Olympic swim team ... She added there was an explosion on the boat and it was thought the ship had sunk. The violence further clouds the peace process to end 20 years of war between the Tigers and the government. The two sides agreed to a cease fire in February last year, but talks have been on hold since April. The Tigers also boycotted a donor conference in Tokyo which raised $4.5 billion to rebuild the war-torn island. The rebels rejected the latest government proposal aimed at restarting talks Wednesday, and are demanding an interim administration for the Tamil-majority north and east. Sounds like they think they can get more on the field than at the table. The navy confirmed there was a clash between one of its boats and a ship it said belonged to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and said the incident took place in waters off the northeastern port city of Trincomalee. Despite the stalled talks, the truce has been holding, giving the island what is seen as the best chance yet to end the war that killed 64,000. Four previous peace bids ended in renewed fighting. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #3 Sinking---That is what Sea Tiggers do best! |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2003-06-14 13:04:04 |
| #2 ...were feared dead... I rather expect they were made dead. |
| Posted by: Anomalous 2003-06-14 07:34:17 |
| #1 Clever way to circumvent the Roadmap, kill people off-road, at sea. Oh, my bad, there is no road map in this conflict, the vaunted moralists of the "international community" haven't time to look beyond Ze Jews. |
| Posted by: af 2003-06-14 13:29:47 |