Sri Lanka offers talks as water battle intensifies

Sri Lanka offered yesterday to hold talks with Tamil Tiger rebels as fierce fighting sparked by a water dispute threatened to spiral into all-out war and the death toll rose to at least 156.

Fighting raged in the north-eastern Muslim town of Muttur, which came under artillery attack even as hundreds of elite army commandos joined local troops in sporadic street battles against rebel fighters, military officials said. They said 17 civilians were killed when shells hit three schools where they were sheltering after security forces asked them to move to public buildings while troops mopped up rebel resistance.Military spokesman Upali Rajapakse said the bloodiest attack was on Arabic College in Muttur where 10 people were killed and at least 50 wounded.He said two other Muslim schools at Thoppur, a suburb of Muttur were also hit by shells.Five people were killed and 10 wounded at Al Noori College and two were killed at Al Hameema College.”The Tigers are trying to bring down artillery on our positions and when they miss, this is what happens,” Rajapakse said.Two constables and two paramilitary troopers attached to the local police were also killed in the clashes in Muttur, officials said.The latest deaths raised to at least 156 the number of people killed since the military launched an offensive eight days ago to lift a canal blockade imposed by the Tigers in Trincomalee district, depriving some 15 000 families of water.Dozens of civilians, soldiers and police injured in the clashes in Muttur were brought to the port town of Trincomalee by boat Thursday – a distance of about 12 kilometres (seven miles) – for better treatment, a medical source said.”The navy has already ferried 27 soldiers and 20 civilians wounded in the fighting at Muttur,” the source at the Trincomalee hospital told AFP.”We are expecting another 15 wounded constables very soon.”In the capital Colombo, the government said it was ready to negotiate with the rebels to resolve their bitter water dispute.”The window is open,” spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters.”If the Tigers are ready, we are ready too to start talks immediately…we do not want to go back to war.”The government’s media minister Anura Yapa also pledged commitment to the Norwegian-backed peace process.”We will make all endeavours to make sure that the peace process is not derailed,” Yapa told reporters.The conciliatory move came as peace broker Norway tried to salvage what was left of a 2002 truce made virtually irrelevant by air, ground and sea battles that have marked the bloodiest eight days since the ceasefire.Nampa-AFPThey said 17 civilians were killed when shells hit three schools where they were sheltering after security forces asked them to move to public buildings while troops mopped up rebel resistance.Military spokesman Upali Rajapakse said the bloodiest attack was on Arabic College in Muttur where 10 people were killed and at least 50 wounded.He said two other Muslim schools at Thoppur, a suburb of Muttur were also hit by shells.Five people were killed and 10 wounded at Al Noori College and two were killed at Al Hameema College.”The Tigers are trying to bring down artillery on our positions and when they miss, this is what happens,” Rajapakse said.Two constables and two paramilitary troopers attached to the local police were also killed in the clashes in Muttur, officials said.The latest deaths raised to at least 156 the number of people killed since the military launched an offensive eight days ago to lift a canal blockade imposed by the Tigers in Trincomalee district, depriving some 15 000 families of water.Dozens of civilians, soldiers and police injured in the clashes in Muttur were brought to the port town of Trincomalee by boat Thursday – a distance of about 12 kilometres (seven miles) – for better treatment, a medical source said.”The navy has already ferried 27 soldiers and 20 civilians wounded in the fighting at Muttur,” the source at the Trincomalee hospital told AFP.”We are expecting another 15 wounded constables very soon.”In the capital Colombo, the government said it was ready to negotiate with the rebels to resolve their bitter water dispute.”The window is open,” spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters.”If the Tigers are ready, we are ready too to start talks immediately…we do not want to go back to war.”The government’s media minister Anura Yapa also pledged commitment to the Norwegian-backed peace process.”We will make all endeavours to make sure that the peace process is not derailed,” Yapa told reporters.The conciliatory move came as peace broker Norway tried to salvage what was left of a 2002 truce made virtually irrelevant by air, ground and sea battles that have marked the bloodiest eight days since the ceasefire.Nampa-AFP