Rebels threaten island-wide war if Lanka wants; 20 more killed

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Sri Lanka�s Tamil Tigers threatened yesterday to extend their battle against government troops across the island if Colombo �wants a war�, as the navy said they killed 20 rebels in sea clashes.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was prepared to accept war or peace and was awaiting the government�s move on the future of the conflict, rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan said. �If the Sri Lankan government wants a war, they will have it everywhere in the island,� Ilanthiriyan said by satellite telephone from the rebel-held north. �If they want peace, Tamil people must feel they have peace,� he said.

The rebels, fighting for a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives, upped the rhetoric yesterday ahead of next weekend�s peace talks to try to restore a 2002 ceasefire.

The Sri Lankan navy said it had killed at least 20 Tamil Tigers and destroyed two rebel boats during a sea battle off the northern peninsula of Jaffna. �Naval troops destroyed two Sea Tiger boats, killing 20 Sea Tiger cadres, and inflicted heavy damages to other boats during retaliatory fire,� the defence ministry said. The state-run media said as many as 35 Tigers were killed.

Peninsula Online