Six persons were killed in the troubled Sri Lankan North East, as President Mahinda Rajapaksa took a tough line in his interaction with the Norwegian Peace Envoys, Erik Solheim and Jon Hanssen-Bauer, in Colombo on Friday.
The pro-LTTE Tamilnet website reported that men belonging to the breakaway Karuna group killed Ratnam Ratnarajah (48) Provincial Director of the World Bank-funded North East Irrigation and Agriculture Project at Kalavankudy, north of Batticaloa town.
It is alleged that Ratnarajah had been receiving death threats from the Karuna group, following his refusal to employ persons recommended by one of its commanders known as "Markan".
Tamilnet said that two youths were shot dead allegedly by Sri Lankan armymen in Nallur in Jaffna.
In Muthur in Trincomalee district, the Karuna group lost one cadre in an ambush in an area controlled by the mainstream LTTE group, according to T Thuyavan, the spokesman of the Karuna group.
But the mainstream LTTE group said that the Karuna group had lost three cadres.
In Puliyankudal in Kayts island off Jaffna, N Jagatheeswaran, a former cadre of the pro-government Eelam Peoples' Democratic Party (EPDP) was shot at and wounded.
{{/usCountry}}In Puliyankudal in Kayts island off Jaffna, N Jagatheeswaran, a former cadre of the pro-government Eelam Peoples' Democratic Party (EPDP) was shot at and wounded.
{{/usCountry}}Rajapaksa talks tough to Solheim
Informed sources told Hindustan Times that in his two hour meeting with the Norwegian Peace Envoys Solheim and Hanssen Bauer, President Rajapaksa wanted the international community to mount more pressure on the LTTE.
He expected the European Union (EU) to ban the LTTE and the US to take determined steps to break the LTTE's global financial network.
It is believed here in Colombo, that an EU ban is only a matter of time because of US pressure.
The EU has taken a decision to ban the LTTE "in principle". Only the due procedures have to be gone through. Every member state has to endorse the decision individually. This takes time.
Given the stand of the Sri Lankan President, Hanssen Bauer will have nothing new to say to the LTTE's political wing leader SP Tamilselvan when he meets the latter in Kilinochchi on Saturday.
The Sri Lankan stalemate is set to continue.