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LTTE wants India's help to stop military drive

13 Tigers killed in fresh fighting

Pn, AFP, Colombo
Tamil l igers in Sri Lanka, engaged in fierce gun-battles with security forces in the island nation's embattled north, want India to intervene to halt the clashes between the waning sides, a leadingdaily hem has claimed.
"As the UTE is currently facing a series of setbacks in the (rebel stronghold of) Wanni warfront with senior LITE military leaders killed by the security forces, the LTTE is once again seeking India's help to stop the ongoing military operations,” the Daily Mirror said.
Besides, the paper claimed, 'the Tigers' Political wing had initiated a campaign to pressurise the Indian central government to take action in this regard.” "In order to achieve this goal the LTTE is using several channels for the purpose and mainly the pro-UTE politicians in Tamil Nadu. ' the report said, adding the pro-rebel MDMK leader Vaiko had made several statements to this effect.
"Knowing that the Indian government can put pressure on the Sri Lankan government, it is learnt
that the Tigers are expecting to use the opportunity to come into a Ceasefire Agreement." the paper said in an editorial yesterday.
I he daily recalled that the UTE's Peace Secretary S Pulidevan had recently said the rebels would wait for the Norwegian facilitators to be granted access to Kilinochchi to further discuss issues relating to negotiations.
Meanwhile, security forces killed at least 13 guerrillas in separate attacks in the north and bombed a rebel base, the military said yesterday.
Air force fighter jets pounded a rebel base in Pooneryn late on Friday, hours after the guerrillas set off bombs in the southern suburb of Colombo and central district of Kandy, the defence ministry said
A crowded state-run bus travelling just south of Colombo was peppered with red-hot shrapnel from a roadside fragmentation mine, killing at least 21 people and injuring more than 50 others.
Hours later, the rebels set off a bomb inside a bus in Kandy, killing two people and wounding 20. the
military said. Police said they were holding a suspect in connection with that attack.
The military blamed the rebels for the bus blasts.
There was no immediate comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are fighting to carve out an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east.
But the LITE has previously insisted it does not target civilians.
Human rights groups, however, say both sides are guilty of human right violations.
The latest 13 reported rebel deaths came in fighting across the embattled north on Friday, the military said.
Casualty figures there are impossible to verify since the defence ministry bars media, rights groups and aid workers from visiting front line areas, citing safety reasons.
The Sri Lankan government insists it now has the upper hand in the 36-year-old conflict, with the defence ministry reporting the deaths of 4,094 rebels and 339 governmentsoldiers so far this year.