LTTE factions lock in fierce fighting: 9 killed

The main Tamil Tiger group mounted a wave of bombardments against positions of renegade commander V. Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, who holds sway in Batticaloa, south of the northeastern port of Trincomalee.

The rebels were firing artillery, mortar bombs and automatic assault rifles in a twin-column advance on the renegades, Tiger sources said.

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The internecine fighting broke out a week after national elections that were narrowly won by President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance, which includes hardliners opposed to concessions to the rebels.

The main Tiger group this week called for a revival of peace talks with the incoming government but warned it would return to fighting if it was not granted self-rule.

More than 60,000 people have died in the rebels' three-decade war for a separate Tamil homeland.

The break-up of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on March 3 and the fighting dimmed prospects of reviving talks stalled since April last year, diplomats said.

Karuna broke away from the LTTE with some 5,000 to 6,000 cadres, or about a third of the Tigers' original fighting force, accusing the rebel leadership of ignoring Tamils in the east of the island.

Rebel sources said formations of the LTTE ended the five-week-long standoff Friday by advancing south across the nearby Verugal river and on towards the Karuna-held town of Vakarai.

At least eight fighters and an ambulance driver were killed in the clashes, rebel and military sources said.

"There was concentrated firing or mortars for about two hours after midnight (1800 GMT)," said a resident at Muttur, just north of rebel-held territory. "This morning we heard only sporadic firing."

The International Committee of the Red Cross said it was approached by Karuna's men to retrieve the body of an ambulance driver who tried to help evacuate the wounded at Kathiraveli, a sea base for Karuna.

"More than 300 young fighters of the Karuna group who were defending the southern side of the (Verugal) river and the interior surrendered without a fight," the pro-rebel website Tamilnet reported.

Karuna's spokesman, Varadan, told AFP by telephone: "They initiated the attack and we are resisting."

Government forces and police throughout the country were immediately placed on heightened alert fearing that security personnel could be hit by crossfire, officials said.