April 18, 2006:
LTTE related violence has killed over 70 people so far this month. Today, a policeman was killed, as were three rebels, who apparently died when attacked by members of another LTTE faction. One faction of the LTTE, whose power is largely in the east, wants to make peace. A larger faction, whose strength is in the north, wants war, and partition of the island. The larger faction wants the LTTE dissidents to change their ways. Amidst all this internal strife, peace talks with the government have been delayed, and attacks on police and soldiers in the north increase. The war is reviving in the north, although in slow motion.
April 17, 2006: In the north, five soldiers were killed by an LTTE mine. An LTTE rebel and two civilians were killed when a mine the rebel was carrying, went off prematurely.
April 15, 2006: In the north, a rebel mine killed five soldiers. Nearby, gunmen killed two Tamil civilians. The LTTE again said the peace talks in Switzerland were off, because the rebels did not like the arrangements the government had made for moving rebel commanders from eastern Sri Lanka to the north, before everyone went to Switzerland. The delay may have more to do with the ongoing civil war within the LTTE.
April 14, 2006: The LTTE agreed to start peace talks in ten days. Meanwhile, over forty people have died from rebel violence in the last week. Today, five were wounded in an LTTE mine attack.
April 13, 2006: The LTTE wants to delay the start of peace talks in Switzerland, which are to begin next week. There is still a civil war going on within the LTTE, between hardliners in the north, and more moderate commanders in the east.
April 12, 2006: In the northeast, two policemen, a soldier and four civilians died in LTTE attacks. Another nine people died in riots that followed these attacks, as mobs attacked Tamils suspected of supporting the LTTE.