---------- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Rick Rozoff) Sri Lanka Troops in New Attack COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) -- Government troops launched a new assault against Tamil rebels Saturday, disregarding a temporary rebel cease-fire and recapturing a strategic bridge on the Jaffna peninsula, a main battlefield in Sri Lanka's 17-year-old civil war. ''We have captured the Navatkuli bridge and our troops are consolidating, clearing the newly captured area,'' said Brig. Sanath Karunaratne, an army spokesman. The bridge, which the spokesman said was badly damaged, is one of five entry points to the government-held city of Jaffna. Government troops captured another key bridge last week. The Tamil rebels had seized both bridges in May. Two soldiers were killed during the offensive when they stepped on anti-personnel mines. Rebel casualty figures were not immediately available, and independent confirmation of rival claims is impossible as journalists are barred from the battle zone. The rebels called a temporary cease-fire last Sunday, but the government rejected it and accused the rebels of violating it themselves by firing artillery at the government's northern defenses. The latest offensive was part of a series of attacks the military has mounted since October to recapture territory taken by the guerrillas earlier this year. Ten moderate Tamil political parties, meanwhile, have issued a joint statement urging the United States, India and other countries to put pressure on the government to accept the unilateral cease-fire announced by the rebels. ''The United States, Britain, India, members of the European Union and other countries interested in solving the conflict in Sri Lanka should exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to bring an end to the war,'' the party leaders said Friday. The rebels, called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have been fighting since 1983 for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million minority Tamils. They say the Tamils can only prosper if they are governed separately from the country's 14 million Sinhalese. The war has killed more than 63,000 people in the island nation off India's coast. ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
