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Terrorism will not frighten me: Rajapakse

V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday said he would not be frightened by any type of terrorism and that his Government was ready to face "any challenge."

"No type of terrorism will frighten me," Mr. Rajapakse said in a televised address to the nation on Tuesday night.

"My Government and I will not be brought to our knees by whatever challenge we face. I emphasise and caution that one should avoid mistaking our desire for peace and our responsibility to achieve it as a government, as weakness," he said.

The suicide bomber's attempted assassination, the President said, made it "patently clear that the need of the LTTE is not to settle disputes through negotiations."

It was also "abundantly clear to the international community today that the response of the LTTE to the peaceful appeals by our Government to settle disputes through negotiation is the use of the suicide bomb attack," the President added.

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