Sri Lankan military wary of LTTE offer

By Nirupama Subramanian

COLOMBO, DEC. 23. With under two days to go before the LTTE's unilateral Christmas eve truce comes into effect, Sri Lanka's military consolidated its position in the northern Jaffna peninsula, killing 17 more rebels in a new confrontation today, officials said.

The military spokesman, Brigadier Sarath Karunaratne, said troops were clearing and consolidating in areas over which they established control on Friday in the Kaithday-Ariyalai- Navatkuli sector.

``It is a time-consuming process, because the whole area is mined. The engineers are slowly clearing the area,'' said Brigadier Karunaratne.

He said the whole area was littered with dismembered bodies of Tiger cadre who were killed in the fighting on Friday. The military said it recovered bodies of 51 LTTE fighters.

At least 25 soldiers, including an officer, were killed and 47 wounded in the operation, in which the military claimed to have captured 34 sqkm, the largest chunk of territory it has wrested back in a single operation since June.

With Sri Lankan troops making progress on the battlefront, the military is wary of the LTTE's month-long ceasefire, which it announced earlier this week.

``We have been played out so many times by the LTTE. So it is difficult to take anything they say at face value. Soldiers are always the first ones for peace, but it has to be peace with dignity,'' said one senior officer, who did not wish to be identified.

The Government has yet to declare its intentions on the LTTE ceasefire. The Media Minister, Mr. Anura Priyadarshana Yapa, said it could be a ``productive'' exercise, but said the Government would act cautiously in the interests of national security.

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Section  : International
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