February 13, 2006: The government won't talk about giving the Tamils their own homeland (partitioning the island of Sri Lanka), and accuse the LTTE of continuing to smuggle in weapons from India, in order to build up LTTE combat forces.

February 12, 2006: Thousands of Tamils turned out up north to protest a soldier killing a local farmer. Relations between the army and Tamils up north were never good, and have gotten worse over the last year.

February 11, 2006: A navy patrol boat, approaching a suspicious fishing boat off the north coast, was damaged when the fishing boat exploded. Four men, apparently LTTE rebels, on the fishing boat died, as did one sailor. The navy was checking fishing boats for weapons smuggling. The LTTE regularly smuggles weapons in from India, and elsewhere.

February 6, 2006: The government and the LTTE have set February 22nd as the day new peace talks will begin. These will be the first formal peace talks in three years.