Sri Lankan troops and police stepped up security on Monday following a spate of attacks blamed on the Tamil Tigers that killed 12 people over the weekend, a military official said.
Troops in the island’s embattled northern and eastern regions as well as other parts of the island were asked to maintain a high state of alert, the official said.
A soldier who survived a landmine attack in the northern peninsula of Jaffna on Sunday succumbed to his injuries on Monday raising the toll to seven in the worst attack against troops since a ceasefire went into effect in 2002.
”It is obvious that through these violent acts, the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] is trying all possible means to provoke troops and create a volatile situation in Jaffna,” military spokesperson Nalin Witharanage said.
”In the wake of these incidents, the security forces and the police will now intensify security duties to ensure law and order prevailed.”
Hours after the blast, another soldier was shot dead by suspected Tiger gunmen in the same area, officials said, adding that another trooper had also been gunned down the previous day.
The government in a statement said the explosion in Jaffna, 400km north of the capital Colombo, was a ”pre-planned terrorist attack on army personnel engaged in
non-offensive routine activities”.
”The troops were transporting lunch for their colleagues when they were caught up in the explosion,” a military official in the area said. ”We believe it is the work of the Tigers.”
The statement urged the international community to condemn the Tigers for Sunday’s attack and said it undermined efforts to revive the Norwegian-backed peace process which remains stalled since April 2003.
”The government calls on the international community to condemn such terrorist acts which place obstacles in the way of furthering the peace process,” the government said.
There was no immediate word from the Tigers.
Three civilians were killed in the eastern port city of Trincomalee on Sunday.
Sunday’s blast left the heaviest government troop casualty toll since they entered a truce with the Tigers in February 2002.
Four previous peace attempts ended in failure in a country where more than 60 000 people have been killed in ethnic violence since 1972. – Sapa-AFP