According to Sri Lankan media reports, around 70 cadres of Tamil People's Liberation Tigers (TMVP) have fled the organisation to join the Tamil Tigers in the east during the past few months.
Some of these cadres have killed their colleagues prior to their fleeing to join the Tigers, sources say.
In one incident on Tuesday October 28, LTTE fighters in Batticaloa district attacked a key paramilitary camp of the paramilitary group TMVP in the early hours of Tuesday, killing four operatives and capturing six gunmen from the camp, located at Chengkaladi, 13 km northwest of Batticaloa city.
Some analysts believe that the missing TMVP members could have joined their attackers or may well have carried out the attack themselves before leaving.
Commenting on the matter, a TMVP spokes person said the Tamil Tigers, in an attempt to infiltrate the east, were trying to connect with TMVP cadres in a bid to carry out attacks in the province.
The spokes person further added that several TMVP cadres had complained to the party hierarchy of being confronted by the Tigers who were persuading them to rejoin the organisation.
There are around 1,200 armed cadres of TMVP in the
