Kumaratunga still for talks with LTTE

Kumaratunga still for talks with LTTE
PRESS TRUST OF INDIA

COLOMBO, MARCH 11: Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga today said she preferred talks with the Tamil rebels, despite the overnight carnage of violence triggered by an unsuccessful LTTE suicide attack on a senior minister, leaving 28 people dead.

Participating in a live TV phone-in programme this morning, Kumaratunga, without referring to last night's violence, said she was determined to work out a political settlement in the country by talking to all parties concerned, including the LTTE.

Twenty-eight people, including six policemen and eight LTTE suicide cadres, were killed in the violence which started with an unsuccessful suicide attack allegedly aimed at the convoy of deputy defence minister Gen Anurudha Ratwatte.

The attack was the second suicide strike by the LTTE after it had agreed to hold talks with the government with Norwegian government facilitators.

A suicide bomber on March 2 exploded near the convoy of a top military official in eastern Trincomlee. While the official, Brig Piyal Abeyasekara, escaped unhurt, a soldier died in the attack.

Ironically, the government in Norway has also collapsed, resulting in political crisis in that country.