Agence France Presse

Colombo, February 8:

Security forces today went on alert in eastern Sri Lanka amid fresh fears for the already faltering peace process after the killing of a senior Tamil Tiger rebel leader, military officials said. E Koushalyan, leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the eastern province, was shot dead with four senior colleagues while they were travelling in the coastal district of Batticaloa last night.

Today, a Tamil politician, former legislator Chandra Nehru who was wounded in the ambush, succumbed to his injuries raising the death toll to six, officials said.

Nehru’s Tamil National Alliance (TNA) party is seen as a proxy of Tamil Tigers who have control over 22 TNA legislators in the 225-member parliament.

Koushalyan, who was killed instantly, is the most senior Tiger to be gunned down since Colombo and the rebels began a Norwegian-brokered truce in February 2002. The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com website said Tigers blamed the attack on “paramilitary operatives working with the Sri Lankan armed forces.” A senior military official denied any involvement but said a security alert was sounded in the area after the killings. Military officials said they suspected the attack was carried out by a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers led by the former number two in the LTTE, V Muralitharan, better known as Karuna.

The Tigers said Koushalyan was returning from a meeting in the rebel political headquarters of Kilinochchi in the island’s north, where they reviewed relief operations, when he was killed.

Norwegian ambassador Hans Brattskar held talks with the Tiger leadership on Sunday to try to get the two sides to agree on ways to coordinate foreign tsunami aid.

“It is no doubt that this will be a setback,” said a diplomatic source involved in the process. “What is worse is if the Tigers decide to strike back. They could go for individuals.” Military analyst and retired air force chief Harry Gunatillake said Koushalyan’s slaying may not affect tsunami-related work but could have an impact on the peace process.

Gunatillake said the peace bid was already on the “backburner” after the December 26 tsunamis.