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COLOMBO • Sri Lankan security forces stepped up patrols and roadblocks yesterday, fearing reprisals after the death of a top Tamil Tiger leader in a government air strike. They boosted their presence in and around the capital Colombo as the Tigers' overall leader vowed to step up the long and bloody battle for independence.
Checks at all entry points into Colombo were increased and roadblocks set up within the city of 650,000 people, a police spokesman said.
"We have similar arrangements in other parts of the country too," he said, adding they feared that the Tigers could try to avenge Friday's death of S P Thamilselvan, the head of the guerrillas' political wing.
His funeral will be held today in rebel-held territory. The Tigers' leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, said he was determined to keep up the "liberation struggle" despite the killing of Thamilselvan, who was the public face of the separatist organisation.
"Thamilselvan was close to me ever since he joined our freedom movement," Prabhakaran said. "I loved him deeply. I taught him as my own beloved younger brother."
Tiger rebels, who are known for their trademark suicide bombings, have carried out tit-for-tat attacks in the past, their latest on October 22 when they smashed a key air base and destroyed a fleet of planes.
The attack on the air base was seen as revenge for a military offensive in which the guerrillas were expelled from their bases in the island's east.
Thamilselvan, 40, was the highest-ranking member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to be killed by government forces in the 35-year separatist campaign and his death has been seen as a major setback to the separatists.
The LTTE declared three days of mourning and named Thamilselvan a brigadier, the highest rank conferred posthumously on any guerrilla by Prabhakaran since the group's formation in 1972. Prabhakaran, who turns 53 on November 26, named his police chief P Nadesan as new leader of the LTTE's political wing.
British politician Liam Fox will arrive in Sri Lanka today for a three-day visit, local media reports said.
Fox, the opposition Conservative Party's shadow defence minister, will meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa and defence officials and will make field visits to Vakarai and Trincomalee in the island's eastern district, the reports said.
The defence ministry meanwhile, reported fresh casualties as a result of sporadic clashes at the weekend.
Four Tamil Tiger rebels were killed when security forces exchanged fire with them across the northern defence lines in Jaffna yesterday, the military said, later adding that one of their soldiers was killed and another injured.
The bullet-riddled bodies of five unidentified men were also found in Vavuniya, the government-held town on the frontlines in the island's embattled north, the ministry said, blaming the killings on the LTTE.
Fighting between troops and rebels has escalated in recent months and official figures show that more than 5,400 people have been killed since December 2005, when a Norwegian-arranged truce began unravelling.
Recent clashes have dimmed hopes of reviving peace talks, which ended in failure in October last year in Geneva. Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the island's drawn-out separatist conflict.
The Tigers are leading a campaign for independence for minority Tamils from the majority Sinhalese nation of 19.5m people.
The Peninsula - AFP
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