Tamil Tiger guerrillas called Tuesday for international pressure to be cranked up to force the Sri Lankan government to halt military operations and return to peace negotiations.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), commonly referred to as the Tamil Tigers, accused Colombo in a statement of pursuing a military campaign and committing human rights abuses.
The timing of the statement was intended to coincide with President Mahinda Rajapakse's address to the United Nations in New York later Tuesday.
The LTTE wants the international community to push the Colombo administration to honour a 2002 ceasefire arranged by peace broker Norway. The truce is in tatters after an escalation of fighting since December 2005.
"Whereas the LTTE continued to respect and urge for a full implementation of the ceasefire agreement, the Rajapakse regime eventually embarked on its war of occupation," the LTTE said.
"The government of Sri Lanka must end its deceptions, halt its military oppression, ethnic cleansing, and serious human rights violations, accept the aspirations of the Tamil people and come forward to find a resolution that is based on the right to self-determination of the Tamil people," the statement said.
"The international community must rein in the government of Sri Lanka to bring it in line."
It added military operations by Sri Lankan forces continued in the island's north and east, but said that the LTTE "continued to restrain itself, confining only to defensive operations."
The statement came a day after the Sri Lankan military said that at least 27 people, including 23 rebels, were killed in clashes over the weekend.
The fighting came despite an offer Sunday by the government's top defence official to halt military action in exchange for a resumption of peace talks, which stalled last October.
Troops would not go on the offensive if Tamil rebels agreed to talks, defence ministry secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse told a newspaper amid pressure from the island's key foreign backers to halt the carnage.
Rights groups accuse the government and Tamil rebels of extra-judicial killings and scores of disappearances of civilians and political activists.
More than 60,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's long-running Tamil separatist campaign.
(http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070925/wl_sthasia_afp/srilankaunrestuneutigers_
070925050804&printer=1;_ylt=At7Vvt_FCftUq3nHfdO6AOfuOrgF)
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