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COLOMBO: Amid stepped up fighting between the Sri Lanka Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is engaged in last-ditch efforts to save its bases in the country's east, newly appointed Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona said that achieving a negotiated and sustainable peace in the country would feature prominently on the Ministry's agenda.

On assuming office on Wednesday, Mr. Kohona, who was appointed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa after overruling the objections raised by Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, told a gathering of the Ministry officials that Sri Lanka's opposition to terrorism in all forms would continue.

`LTTE will be ousted from east'

Meanwhile, Defence Ministry spokesperson and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told a news conference here that the Government was determined to oust the LTTE from the east to free the people from the Tigers' tyranny. However, he maintained that the Government was ready to negotiate with the group if it was ready to renounce violence and not call itself the sole representative of the Tamils.

The Army and the Tigers have been engaged in pitched battles over the past 48 hours. Various figures on death and destruction are being circulated. However, with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) temporarily winding up its offices in the north and the east, it is impossible to get independent information about the claims.

Both the Army and the LTTE claim that the fighting has been intense. The Government claims to have captured over a dozen Tiger camps in the east. Conceding some losses, the Tigers, however, maintain that their cadres are holding on to their bases.Mr. Rambukwella said the Tigers did not offer the expected resistance at the Kanjikudichchiaru bases, including the `Stanley Base' in Amparai district, when the Special Task Force troopers overran them during Operation `Niyathai Jaya.'

He claimed that 17 LTTE `satellite' bases were captured. The complexes comprised "torture chambers," ammunition and explosive dumps, generators and trucks. The Minister alleged that children and youth in areas under LTTE control were being conscripted.

Mr. Rambukwella alleged that the LTTE was cultivating cannabis and exporting the harvest to earn revenue after it failed to re-open the A-9 road for its "extortion purposes."

According to him, the Army neutralised the LTTE's third Forward Defence Line in Panichchnakerni amidst mortar firing at the troops on Tuesday. "The Army was compelled to neutralise the LTTE-held Inchchalampattu, Verugal and Uppural areas as the Tigers were continuously firing mortars and artillery from these positions," he said. The Minister said that since July, 561 Tigers, mainly children below 18, surrendered to the Army and the police. This, Mr. Rambukwella claimed, indicated that people were turning against the LTTE.

Five Tigers who were allegedly conscripted by the LTTE and who later surrendered to the Army were paraded at the press meet.

Targets bombed

The Sri Lanka Air Force bombed suspected Tamil Tiger targets in Verugal in the east for the second consecutive day as the Army secured areas captured from the guerillas.

"The Air Force took a target in Verugal, and the mission was successful," Air Force spokesman Ajantha Silva said. Group Capt. Surveillance indicated that a Tiger artillery base was hit, he claimed.

The LTTE claimed that six persons, including a woman and a driver attached to Medecins Sans Frontieres, were shot and killed, and two young men travelling in a three-wheeler were killed in two different incidents in Vavuniya in the north on Tuesday night.

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