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Sri Lanka

Tamil rebels and rivals fighting in north-eastern Sri Lanka

Colombo (dpa) - Fighting between Tamil rebels and their main rival group has left an estimated 30 cadres dead in the north-eastern part of Sri Lanka, state-run television reported Monday.

Two Tamil rebel camps located in the Sampoor area of the Trincomalee district, 250 kilometres north-east of the capital, came under attack by the rival group known as the Karuna faction on Sunday night, the state television station, Rupavahini, quoted military officials as saying.

Military officials claimed that intercepted messages revealed that an estimated 30 Tamil rebel cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed.

There was no independent confirmation about the death toll, but residents living in the adjoining government-controlled areas confirmed that they heard a heavy exchange of mortar fire in the rebel-controlled areas of Sampoor.

The Karuna faction is a breakaway group of the LTTE which has so far carried out a series of attacks on the rebels since their breakaway two years ago.

The incident came as a government curfew in the entire northern Jaffna peninsula, more than 350 kilometres north of the capital, continued since Sunday midnight.

The curfew was clamped after reports that eight civilians were gunned down by the security forces and claims that the army did not allow the civilians to look for their bodies in a village at Chavakachcheri, 370 kilometres north of the capital.

"The curfew is being strictly enforced with nobody being allowed to come to the roads. The curfew is expected to be lifted later in the evening," a journalist working for a newspaper in the north said.

He said their newspaper - Uthayan - due to be published Monday, was not issued and they expect to release a late edition if the curfew is lifted later in the day.

The newspaper office came under attack last Tuesday and two employees were killed.

Due to the curfew a key highway between the south of the country and the north was also closed down on Monday, forcing an estimated 3,000 passengers to remain in the northern town until the roads are open.

Tamil rebels have stepped up attacks against the security forces and the army has carried out a series of retaliatory attacks during the past four weeks. More than 230 persons have been killed in the fighting during these periods.

Japan's peace envoy, Yasushi Akashi, is currently in Sri Lanka making a fresh effort to ensure that the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE continues its peace effort and revive peace talks which were scheduled to be held on April 24 and 25, but postponed.

Norway, which is acting as a peace facilitator, and the international donor countries are also making efforts to get the two sides to resume the peace talks.

Akashi met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa Monday and was due to travel to the rebel-held northern Kilinochchi area to meet with the rebel political wing leader, S P Thamilselvan, within the next two days.

The 22-year-old conflict has left more than 70,000 people dead. dpa ad jh

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