Sri Lanka's civil war appeared to have resumed in all but name yesterday as Tamil Tigers attacked three army camps and pushed into government territory and the military said dozens of rebels were killed.

 

A 2002 ceasefire between the two sides still exists on paper, but a battle last week over water supply for about 50,000 people in a government-controlled area has spread to the port of Trincomalee and surrounding areas with both sides exchanging artillery and mortar fire.

 

The air force resumed bombing raids on Tiger positions for an eighth day, while the army transported two T-52 Russian battle tanks and convoys of supplies to the area.

 

The military said more than 40 Tigers were killed yesterday, but that the rebels had left the bodies of only a few behind. The Tigers dismissed the claim as "desperate," but gave no details of casualties.

 

Officials said five military personnel and two civilians were killed. Truce monitors say military tolls of rebel deaths are often wildly overdone, while the Tigers often deny suffering losses at all.

 

But one diplomat said: "This certainly looks like a war. Neither side has shown any sign of wanting to de-escalate this situation and seek peace."

 

Police said rebels had infiltrated government-held parts of Mutur town near Trincomalee, had overrun a police post and were firing at troops from buildings in the town. The military said the Tigers had tried to capture a navy jetty checkpoint but had been repulsed. Residents in surrounding villages despaired.

 

"We are scared. All the schools are closed. We dare not go and get water. We can't earn money," said farmer H.N. Gunasinghe in a village south of fighting around the town of Mutur and only a mile from government artillery positions.

 

Two Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) mortar bombs fell near a civilian hospital in Mutur, causing some damage to the building, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The town of Trincomalee around 10 kilometers across the harbor was tense but calm and residents went about their daily business.

 

On Tuesday, suicide bombers tried to sink a ship with 850 troops aboard.

 

"We have a duty to protect the people and stop the military from pressuring the people with violent means such as aerial bombings," Tiger military spokesman Ilanthiraiyan said from the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.

 

"In that context, we had to take some measures to neutralize these antics."

 

Tension has risen since November

 

Colombo stock market fell sharply as fighting escalated, and closed 1.0 percent down.

 

The ceasefire halted a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983. But tensions between the Tigers and the government have risen markedly since last November, peace talks have been called off, and mine attacks and ambushes have killed over 800 people this year.

 

But last week's clash over water supplies south of Trincomalee was the first time the two sides had fought in a ground battle since the ceasefire.

 

Elsewhere, there was sporadic violence in the northwestern district of Mannar, where the military said a Claymore fragmentation mine blast killed one soldier while another was shot and injured by suspected Tigers.

 

On Monday, a senior rebel in the east said an army offensive near the water tank meant the ceasefire was over and that war had restarted. But the government says it remains committed to the ceasefire and the Tigers say they are only acting defensively.

 

The government accuses the Tigers who demand a separate homeland for ethnic Tamils in the northeast of attempted ethnic cleansing through cutting off the water supply to around 50,000 mostly Sinhalese and Muslims in army-held territory.

 

"Denying civilians water is a war crime," said Dr. Palitha Kohona, head of the government's peace secretariat. "Wars have started over less. Look at Lebanon."

 

(China Daily August 3, 2006)