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No assurance from LTTE to stop killings
Scandinavian monitors have failed to get an assurance from the LTTE to halt a killing-spree of rival members both in Colombo and the north-east, prompting some Tamil parties to take their case to the international community.

Police have stepped up search operations after they detected Tiger hit squads in Colombo this week. In the picture the officers of the special operations unit are seen in action. Pix Ishara.S.Kodikara

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Chief Tryggve Telefssen on Friday during a two and a half hour meeting with LTTE's political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan raised the issue about a series of killings of rival members, but the LTTE gave no assurance that the murders would be stopped.

Mr. Telefssen was in Kilinochchi to seek a guarantee from the LTTE to halt the killings after some Tamil parties lodged protests with the monitors about the killings.
Hours before Mr. Telefssen met Mr. Thamilselvan, a former Pradeshiya Sabha member representing the EPRLF (Varathan wing) was chopped and one of his hands was decapitated while the other which was also cut was saved in a surgical operation.

Another LTTE rival killed
One of the senior most EPRLF (Varathar) wing members was shot dead yesterday morning at his office in Jaffna by a suspected LTTE sniper.

Thambirajha Subathiran, 44, alias Robert was shot dead around 6 a.m. at the EPRLF political office near the Jaffna hospital. Mr. Subathiran, a former Jaffna Municipal Councillor and a defeated candidate at the last parliamentary elections, had been very critical of the killings carried out by the LTTE in the north and east.

His last criticism of the LTTE condemning it for the killing of an EPRLF member on Thursday appeared in the Uthayan newspaper yesterday. The EPRLF (Varathar ) wing is led by former Northeast chief minister Varatharaja Perumal.

Soon after the incident, Minister Rajitha Senaratne and Defence Secretary Austin Fernando who had arrived in Jaffna to visit the Gurunagar area had been advised to return to Colombo. They were in Palaly when they were informed about the incident. Meanwhile President Chandrika Kumaratunga in a statement condemned the killing.

SLMM spokesperson Agnes Bragadottier said that although the LTTE had not made a commitment to halt the killing-spree, it had assured that it would take up the request for the release of two policemen and a sailor held in their custody.
The two policemen attached to the traffic section were abducted by the LTTE in the government-controlled area of Chenkaladi in Batticaloa while the sailor was taken into custody in Trincomalee.

The abduction of the two policemen was a retaliation for the arrest of an LTTE political wing member who was arrested for the shooting of a rival member.
Concern about the presence of LTTE hit-squads in Colombo was further increased after three persons were arrested and one of them attempted to commit suicide by taking cyanide.

Inspector General T.E.Anandarajah told The Sunday Times that they had identified the presence of the LTTE hit squads in Colombo city. He said intelligence units were closely monitoring their movements.

He said, however, they would not be able to take action against them under the PTA and would be acting under the normal laws due to the current ceasefire agreement between the government and the LTTE.

Military spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said they were providing maximum security to non-military personnel working with intelligence units. EPDP leader Douglas Devananda said the aim of the LTTE was to push the rival members out of the north and east. He said the party had begun an international campaign to create awareness about the killings.

The EPDP has called on diplomatic missions to put pressure on the LTTE to abide by the ceasefire agreement and stop killings and abductions of EPDP members.

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