A proliferation of militant groups, often with names bearing a thinly veiled reference to the Liberation Tigers, declaring their determination to liberate the Jaffna peninsula have emerged to stage attacks on the Sri Lankan security forces.
Groups such as the Roaring Tamil Force, the People’s Force, the Tamil People’s Army and the High Security Zones Resident’s Liberation Front have announced their intent to drive the security forces out of Jaffna.
An estimated forty thousand predominantly Sinhala troops are controlling around half a million people in the overwhelmingly Tamil northern peninsula.
Tensions between residents and the security forces have risen sharply in the past few weeks – as have the number of attacks on the military and the pace of aggressive patrolling by the latter.
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have begun forcing people in the war-ravaged peninsula to cut back their garden hedges on Thursday as a security precaution against deadly ambushes, Reuters reported.
Frustrated Tamils hacked at branches and cleared scrub along routes heavily used by the military as heavily-armed soldiers also demanded the removal of any pictures of Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers, hanging in homes searched. Many homes and shops display LTTE calendars and posters.
"The army has asked us to keep the roadsides cleared," Kandasamy Jeevan, 38, tending his motor oil and lubricant store in the village of Irupalai 6 miles (10 km) outside the military-held town of Jaffna, told Reuters.
But the psychological war is being waged by the militants too. Anonymous posters have been pasted near military high security zones warning soldiers they will be shot unless they leave Jaffna.
"If you don’t want war, go from here. If you want to die, stay back," read one poster. "If you stay back, you will be destroyed, so go immediately."
Two suspected rebel fronts have also emerged, demanding the army stop checking homes in Jaffna district to root out cadres and claiming responsibility for the claymore attacks.
A group calling itself the Tamil Peoples’ Resurgence Force said on Thursday it had 250 trained men ready to mount attacks on the military unless search and cordon operations were halted.
Another calling itself the High Security Zone Residents’ Liberation Force -- claiming to represent Tamils displaced from swathes of the north occupied by the army and now off limits -- has vowed to mount sporadic offensives against the army.
"Faced with severe shortages, we have also planned to capture weapons and ammunition during our future offensives," it said in a statement, threatening to use "sticks, knives and other sharp objects as weapons to expel the occupying soldiers".
Last week the Roaring Tamil Force submitted a memorandum to the international truce monitors condemning the military’s actions and vowing to defend residents.
In its letter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission – brazenly delivered to its Jaffna office by a dozen youths – the letter demanded the withdrawal of security forces to enable daily life to return to normalcy and threatened further violence if the occupying forces continue to assault civilians.
Most provocatively, the Roaring Tamil Force also claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on Sri Lanka troops and positions in Jaffna.
At least fourteen soldiers were killed in two devastating claymore mine attacks and several others have been wounded, some mortally, in dozens of grenade and gun attacks over the past few weeks.
The attacks have been continuing this week.
On Wednesday evening a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Corporal was killed and six soldiers, including two majors, were injured in an ambush on their vehicle. Automatic weapons and grenades were used in the attack along the Kachchai-Kilali road in Thenmaradchy.
The Daily Mirror newspaper said the attack was the eighth in a twenty-four hour period.
Three SLA soldiers were injured in two grenade attacks in Ariyalai and Kalviyankadu. A grenade attack on SLA troops stationed at the model market in Kalviyankadu on the Point Pedro Road, injured two.
Wednesday morning a soldier was injured by a grenade thrown at at the Ariyalai Mambalam junction. A SLA soldier from the HSZ in Vadamarachy East sustained injuries in a knife attack on Tuesday and was admitted to the Palalay military hospital in serious condition.
On Tuesday a soldier was shot and wounded in Chundikkuli. Another was mortally wounded in Jaffna town.
Also Tuesday there were three attacks on military sentry points at Vannarapannai, Point Pedro and Anaipanthi but no casualties were reported, the Daily Mirror reported.
Representatives of the Tamil Tigers and the SLMM met in Pallai this week to discuss the deteriorating situation. Mr. C. Iamparithy, the Jaffna political head of the LTTE told the monitors that Tamil people have reached the limits of their patience due to the sexual harassment and indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
Groups such as the Roaring Tamil Force, the People’s Force, the Tamil People’s Army and the High Security Zones Resident’s Liberation Front have announced their intent to drive the security forces out of Jaffna.
An estimated forty thousand predominantly Sinhala troops are controlling around half a million people in the overwhelmingly Tamil northern peninsula.
Tensions between residents and the security forces have risen sharply in the past few weeks – as have the number of attacks on the military and the pace of aggressive patrolling by the latter.
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have begun forcing people in the war-ravaged peninsula to cut back their garden hedges on Thursday as a security precaution against deadly ambushes, Reuters reported.
Frustrated Tamils hacked at branches and cleared scrub along routes heavily used by the military as heavily-armed soldiers also demanded the removal of any pictures of Velupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers, hanging in homes searched. Many homes and shops display LTTE calendars and posters.
"The army has asked us to keep the roadsides cleared," Kandasamy Jeevan, 38, tending his motor oil and lubricant store in the village of Irupalai 6 miles (10 km) outside the military-held town of Jaffna, told Reuters.
But the psychological war is being waged by the militants too. Anonymous posters have been pasted near military high security zones warning soldiers they will be shot unless they leave Jaffna.
"If you don’t want war, go from here. If you want to die, stay back," read one poster. "If you stay back, you will be destroyed, so go immediately."
Two suspected rebel fronts have also emerged, demanding the army stop checking homes in Jaffna district to root out cadres and claiming responsibility for the claymore attacks.
A group calling itself the Tamil Peoples’ Resurgence Force said on Thursday it had 250 trained men ready to mount attacks on the military unless search and cordon operations were halted.
Another calling itself the High Security Zone Residents’ Liberation Force -- claiming to represent Tamils displaced from swathes of the north occupied by the army and now off limits -- has vowed to mount sporadic offensives against the army.
"Faced with severe shortages, we have also planned to capture weapons and ammunition during our future offensives," it said in a statement, threatening to use "sticks, knives and other sharp objects as weapons to expel the occupying soldiers".
Last week the Roaring Tamil Force submitted a memorandum to the international truce monitors condemning the military’s actions and vowing to defend residents.
In its letter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission – brazenly delivered to its Jaffna office by a dozen youths – the letter demanded the withdrawal of security forces to enable daily life to return to normalcy and threatened further violence if the occupying forces continue to assault civilians.
Most provocatively, the Roaring Tamil Force also claimed responsibility for the recent attacks on Sri Lanka troops and positions in Jaffna.
At least fourteen soldiers were killed in two devastating claymore mine attacks and several others have been wounded, some mortally, in dozens of grenade and gun attacks over the past few weeks.
The attacks have been continuing this week.
On Wednesday evening a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Corporal was killed and six soldiers, including two majors, were injured in an ambush on their vehicle. Automatic weapons and grenades were used in the attack along the Kachchai-Kilali road in Thenmaradchy.
The Daily Mirror newspaper said the attack was the eighth in a twenty-four hour period.
Three SLA soldiers were injured in two grenade attacks in Ariyalai and Kalviyankadu. A grenade attack on SLA troops stationed at the model market in Kalviyankadu on the Point Pedro Road, injured two.
Wednesday morning a soldier was injured by a grenade thrown at at the Ariyalai Mambalam junction. A SLA soldier from the HSZ in Vadamarachy East sustained injuries in a knife attack on Tuesday and was admitted to the Palalay military hospital in serious condition.
On Tuesday a soldier was shot and wounded in Chundikkuli. Another was mortally wounded in Jaffna town.
Also Tuesday there were three attacks on military sentry points at Vannarapannai, Point Pedro and Anaipanthi but no casualties were reported, the Daily Mirror reported.
Representatives of the Tamil Tigers and the SLMM met in Pallai this week to discuss the deteriorating situation. Mr. C. Iamparithy, the Jaffna political head of the LTTE told the monitors that Tamil people have reached the limits of their patience due to the sexual harassment and indiscriminate attacks on civilians.
