Tamil Tigers warn Sri Lanka heading for major war

The killing of a senior Tamil Tiger rebel leader was intended to drag Sri Lanka into a “major war,” the Tigers said today as spiralling violence threatened to derail a tenuous truce.

The Tigers blamed the government for the killing on Saturday of Col. Ramanan, the No.2 Tamil Tiger leader and the rebels’ intelligence chief for eastern Sri Lanka.

He is the most senior rebel to be killed since the 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Tigers’ official name.

“LTTE considers this attack is intended to end all efforts towards peace and drag the LTTE into a major war,” said a statement on the rebel website.

The statement said that a protest had been lodged with international truce monitors, and that proof had been provided of army involvement.

While stopping short of outright threats of revenge, senior rebel leader Seevaratnam Puleedevan said the killing was “a very serious incident.”

He blamed the Sri Lankan army, although the military denied any involvement in the killing.