Sri Lanka's civil war continues to escalate, following the government's annulment of a 2002 cease-fire treaty. On Wednesday, 23 people were killed and 67 wounded in a bombing of a civilian bus. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) were responsible for the bombing. Three soldiers were killed in a second rebel attack of a military vehicle.
The Tamil Tigers have been employing guerrilla tactics in their fight for an independent state since the 1970s. The rebel force of around 10,000 men, women, and children is made up of poor agricultural workers and unemployed urban youth. The group is notorious for suicide attacks and its willingness to attack civilians.
The 2002 cease fire, between the government and the rebels, broke down two years ago and ended officially on Wednesday after President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government decided to withdraw. The government announced last week that it had killed over 200 insurgents. Since 2006, more than 5,000 people have been killed in bombings, battles, and ambushes. The government's renouncement of the cease fire does not signal a peaceful solution to this drawn-out and deadly conflict.
This is really bad news. Beautiful country, beautiful people-amazing ancient history and this bloody conflict resumes killing innocent people or driving them from their homeland against their will. Over what? Greed, stupidity, boasting rights, religion something only a few people want to die for but don't want to die alone for so they start a civil war and drag down an entire country.
I've two older friends from Ceylon (Sri Lanka) and they had to flee their beloved country and come here to seek asylum. They long for this to be over so they can go home and find any surviving family and re-build their cities and temples and way of life. They must be heartbroken at this news.