Colombo, May 29: Sri Lanka today accused Tamil Tiger rebels of breaking a Norwegian-arranged truce by trying to kill two government soldiers in the island's northeastern port district of Trincomalee. The defence ministry said members of the Rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) opened fire on the two soldiers and then tried to cut them up with swords in broad daylight.
"This is yet another attempt to kill serving soldiers by the LTTE," the ministry said in a statement.
The latest attack came three weeks after the government lodged a strong protest over a series of killings of rival political leaders and former intelligence operatives by Tamil Tiger rebels in violation of the truce.
That protest was conveyed through Norwegian peace facilitators, government spokesman and constitutional affairs minister G L Peiris said, adding that the authorities would deal with the perpetrators under criminal law.
Official figures show that about 25 military informants, operatives and Tamil political activists had been gunned down since the Tamil Tigers entered into a Norwegian-brokered truce on February 23 last year.
The Scandinavian team monitoring the truce said the attacks were a serious threat to the stability of the ceasefire which is the basis for peace negotiations between the government and the Tigers.
The talks have been suspended since April 21 when the Tigers said they were pulling out to protest what they see as slow delivery on the part of the government on decisions taken at previous negotiations. Bureau Report