Tamil rebel warns of attack plot
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- A powerful renegade rebel commander has accused the Tamil Tigers' top leadership of planning to attack him, saying it would lead to bloody factional fighting among the Sri Lankan guerrillas.
The warning came a day after Tiger leaders announced that they had expelled the rebel eastern commander Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, also known as Karuna, from their ranks.
Muralitharan, however, refuses to relinquish power. Last week, he withdrew 6,000 fighters from the 15,000-strong guerrilla army in a dispute with the Tigers' top leader over troop deployment.
The schism is the biggest blow to the rebel group since it began its insurrection in 1983.
The Tigers do not tolerate dissent and usually kill anyone who challenges their top commander Vellupillai Prabhakaran.
The split also threatens an already fragile cease-fire between the rebels and government forces, and came ahead of key April 2 parliamentary elections.
"We have reliable information that killer squads sanctioned by the northern leadership have been sent with the intention of attacking me and my forces," Muralitharan told The Associated Press by telephone.
"These moves can lead to internal killing" between breakaway forces and the main guerrilla army, he said.
There was no immediate response from the top rebel leadership based in the north.
Meanwhile, senior Sri Lanka army officials said Sunday that 23 rebels had crossed from the northern border to the east two days after Muralitharan disclosed the split.
The officials said Muralitharan's men had stepped up their guard and were checking for infiltration from guerrillas in the north. The army also was on alert for fighting between the two rival factions.
Muralitharan, who joined the ruthless rebel group just three months after the insurrection began, said he informed the Norwegian ambassador Hans Brattskar about possible fighting between his soldiers and the main insurgent army.
Brattskar confirmed receiving the call but declined to give details.
Norway has been trying to seal a permanent peace deal in this island nation, and brokered a historic cease-fire between the Sri Lankan government and the Tigers in February 2002.
Peace jeopardy
Western diplomats warned the division among the rebels could seriously jeopardize any chance for peace.
"It's a very tricky situation that can seriously affect the cease-fire and the peace process," Hagrup Haukland, deputy chief of a European team of truce monitors, told The Associated Press Saturday.
However, Tigers' political chief S.P. Thamilselvan insisted that the peace process -- stalled since April -- would not be affected.
"A single individual's lapse and the disciplinary action in removing him from the organization, will definitely not affect the peace process in any way," Thamilselvan said Saturday.
Muralitharan said his group will respect the existing truce until it can sign a new one. More than 65,000 people have been killed in the 20-year civil war.
Calling Muralitharan's act "traitorous," Thamilselvan said he would be replaced by his deputy, Ramesh, who like many Tamil insurgents uses only one name. Ramesh and other officers have fled from the east to the north.
But Muralitharan, 37, has refused to step aside.
"I will not give up my command," one of Muralitharan's top officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity, quoted his boss as saying Saturday.
"It's very ridiculous to make a statement that I am expelled, when it was we who first decided to break away and have our own administration."
Muralitharan has said his grievances with top rebel leader Prabhakaran stemmed from demands to send more cadres from the east to the north and allegations of favoritism.
He has also complained of unauthorized assassinations and attacks in his area.
Ramesh rejected the allegations.
