Tiger faction 'abandoning fight'

Karuna wants a separate rebel administration in eastern Sri Lanka

Rebels loyal to a breakaway Tamil Tiger group in Sri Lanka are abandoning their fight against the mainstream faction, reports say.

One military official in the east told Reuters there was a "mass exodus" from the ranks of Colonel Karuna's faction.

International peace monitor Eric Solheim said his sources indicated that "Karuna seems to have given up".

Fighting flared last Friday between the main faction and that of Col Karuna, who broke away last month.

The BBC's Anna Horsbrugh-Porter in Colombo says the exact number of Karuna fighters leaving camps is not yet known but witnesses talk of distressed soldiers waiting for transport to go home.

Map of the disputed region

The whereabouts and fate of Col Karuna are uncertain.

If there is a request for refuge we will consider Defence secretary Cyril Herath

However, a woman commander who defected from Col Karuna to the main faction told the BBC Tamil service he was on the run in the jungle.

She said he was planning to reach Colombo with a few loyalists and then go abroad.

The government said it was willing to consider giving the colonel refuge "on humanitarian grounds" - if he asked for it.

"But we have not heard from him," defence secretary Cyril Herath told the AFP news agency.

The website loyal to the mainstream faction, TamilNet, has reported further gains for the northern rebel forces.

It says areas south-west of Batticaloa are now under their control, including the offices of Col Karuna's unofficial newspaper.

'No resistance'

The UN Children's Fund, Unicef, which is working in the area, confirms there has been a spontaneous release of Tamil Tiger cadres from the camps of the eastern faction.

Thousands of civilians who had fled their homes when the two factions began fighting are also now returning to their villages.

Thousands had fled the violence

Last Friday, the northern faction crossed the Verugal river, which had been the de facto border between the two groups, and advanced south through Kathiraveli to Vakarai.

TamilNet said the northern Tigers had encountered no resistance when they moved further south into new areas of Col Karuna's territory on Monday.

The mainstream faction had also launched another drive from Amparai, south of Batticaloa, at the weekend.

A military source told AFP that Col Karuna's faction had indicated to government forces it was no longer engaging the northern group.

"They did not get the expected support from the security forces," the source said.

The government has a two-year ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers and the military has said it wants to remain neutral.

Col Karuna declared his own separate administration in the east a month ago.

He cited northern discrimination against the eastern wing as his motivation.

Last Friday's violence flared up just days after a new government was elected.

The administration has vowed to restart peace talks with the Tamil Tigers, which stalled when the rebels pulled out last April.

FIGHTING IN THE EAST

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