COLOMBO, July 11, Reuter: The most powerful Tamil guerrilla group in Sri Lanka has threatened to withdraw from peace talks and prepare for a long struggle if Indian troops continue military operations against them.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) group, in a statement at the weekend, sai India continues to engage in its efforts to eliminate Tigers….. The Tigers would withdraw from the farcical peace talks and prepare the Tamil nation for a long and protracted struggle…”

It said that during the past nine months Indian troops had killed a large number of Tamil civilians, raped women and destroyed millions of rupees worth of property.

An Indian High Commission (Embassy) official dismissed the allegations as propaganda.

The Tigers, who rejected an agreement signed by President Junius Jayewardene and Indian Prime Minister Rajiy Gandhi a year ago to end a Tamil separatist revolt, are continuing an armed separatist campaign.

Indian officials said about 52,000 troops, posted in the north and east to enforce the accord, had broken the back of the Tigers and were pressing with a drive to hunt-down and disarm them.

The LTTE said India was “hell bent on eliminating Tigers and liguidating its leaders”, because the rebels would not accept any solution that would not protect Tamils.

The Tigers’ statement came after weeks of official optimism ‘over peace talks between Indian officials and rebel representatives in the South Indian city of Madras.

Indian High Commission (Ambassador) Jyotindra Nath Dixit said that “despite the constantly _ changing stand of the LTTE” India was holding negotiations with the Tigers to enable them to give up violence and return to democratic politics.

He said over the weekend that only the timing of a ceasefire and the period over which the Tigers would lay down their arms were: the only things standing in the way of an agreement.

“These should not be insurmountable problems”, he said, according to a statement from the High Commission.

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