![]() ![]() ![]() Ethnic Sinhalese make up 74 percent of the island's population and dominate the Government and armed forces. Tamils are a minority on the island as a whole but are numerous in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, where the Indian-Sri Lankan accord provides for increased autonomy. ![]() In the last week, however, they have become involved in increasingly fierce combat with the Tamil rebels. Under the accord, troops from India, which was long considered sympathetic to the Tamil cause, were sent to Sri Lanka in a peacekeeping role. Refusing to Accede to Accord The militants, belonging to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, are refusing to accede to a peace accord signed July 29 by Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India and President J. Indian troops trying to subdue ethnic Tamil guerrillas in Sri Lanka slowed their march toward a Tamil stronghold today to consolidate their forces, an Indian spokeswoman said here.īut she acknowledged that the Indians were meeting effective and determined resistance as they approached the mined and booby-trapped perimeter of the northern town of Jaffna, fighting house to house along access roads.Ĭaught in heavy combat that has now taken at least 79 Indian lives - 20 today in the east and 2 in the north -New Delhi plans to increase troops in Sri Lanka, the spokeswoman said.įrom 12,000 to 15,000 Indian soldiers and police commandos are now in the country, assigned to disarm Tamil militants who have been waging a civil war for four years. ![]()
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