A senior member of the Tamil Tiger rebels' political wing has been gunned down in Sri Lanka, the army said today, as sporadic violence stalls efforts to end two decades of civil war.
Vasu Bawa, one of the top three leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's political wing in the rebel stronghold of Batticaloa, around 200 miles northeast of Colombo, was ambushed yesterday and shot dead along with another aide, an army spokesman said.
"After they were checked at an army checkpoint and were proceeding towards a village called Mankerni, some gunmen opened fire and exploded a Claymore mine," said an army spokesman in Batticaloa. "They died on the spot."
A soldier was killed by a grenade in a separate incident a few miles away from the ambush, the army spokesman added.
The army blamed the killings on infighting among the Tigers, whose legendary discipline was shattered in April by the defection of its top commander in Batticaloa, which triggered factional fighting.
Violence has hampered efforts to restart stalled talks aimed at cementing a permanent peace in a land famed for its tea and spectacular beaches - but also for a bloody divide along ethnic and religious lines.
More than 64,000 people have been killed since 1983 in fighting between the government and the Tigers, who want self-rule for minority Tamils. The two sides agreed a ceasefire in 2002, which both sides insist holds despite recent killings.
The government and the Tigers are at odds over conditions to restart peace talks, while donor nations say Sri Lanka could lose $4.5 billion worth of pledged aid unless talks resume.
The Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the killings, which came just days after a Tamil politician opposed to the Tigers was shot dead in Colombo.
Last month a suicide bomber killed five people in the capital in a failed bid to assassinate a close ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
Heavily armed police and soldiers still man green sand-bagged checkpoints in Colombo and across Sri Lanka, while the Tigers patrol the north and east and mount roadblocks of their own.
The United States and a host of European nations called this week for an end to the violence, saying it was the only way to secure a lasting peace and pave the way for the reconstruction of the war ravaged north and east that the rebels have sought.