Lanka risks war after killing of Tamil leader

Military officials said they suspected Monday night's attack was carried out by a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers led by the former number two in the leadership, known as Karuna.

However, the pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website said Tigers blamed the attack on "paramilitary operatives working with the Sri Lankan armed forces." The military denied this.

The government condemned the killings and called on all parties to prevent further violence, especially while the country is recovering from deadly tsunamis.

"The government calls on all concerned parties to prevent further violations of the ceasefire, gravely risking a return to conflict, and instead to support the peace process and move ahead," a statement said.

E. Koushalyan, political wing leader for the eastern province of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), was killed in an ambush along with former Tamil legislator Chandra Nehru and four other senior rebels.

"While these killings are a violation of the ceasefire agreement, their timing is also clearly calculated to disrupt the positive post-tsunami atmosphere of increasing cooperation between the government and the LTTE," the government said.

The Tigers and troops have been observing a truce which Norway brokered in February 2002 and Koushalyan is the most senior Tiger to be gunned down since then. Peace talks have been deadlocked since April 2003.

Bickering between the two sides has increased in the last few weeks over distribution of tsunami aid in the rebel-controlled north and east.

Tiger activists urged residents in the Trincomalee district to protest Monday's killings by closing shops and staying indoors.

Military officials said security forces had gone on alert.

The Tigers said Koushalyan was returning from a meeting in the rebel political headquarters of Kilinochchi in the island's north, where they reviewed relief operations, when he was killed in Batticaloa district.

"It is no doubt that this will be a setback (to the peace process)," said a diplomatic source involved in the process.