:
equipment had been left behind.
The country continues to slide towards resumption of civil war. The LTTE has hardened into factions, with the stronger one demanding an independent Tamil state, and fighting the other (more moderate) faction (which is quietly backed by the government.) The army and the LTTE are preparing for renewed combat, and there appears no way to stop the process.
October 19, 2004: Another Tamil politician was assassinated in eastern Sri Lanka,