SRI LANKA’S tenuous peace was shattered yesterday when fighting broke out between rival factions of the Tamil Tiger rebel movement, the first major fighting to take place since a ceasefire was declared on the island two years ago.

The battle erupted in the early morning when troops loyal to the feared rebel supremo, Vellupilai Prabhakaran, launched an assault across a narrow river into territory controlled by the renegade commander, Colonel Karuna.

Karuna broke away from the northern leadership last month, taking nearly half the movement’s 16,000 fighters with him in an unprecedented challenge to Prabhakaran.

Since then, hundreds of fighters have been erecting defences on either side of the Verugal River in anticipation of a showdown, the first within the rebel movement.

That came shortly after midnight when about 1,000 heavily armed troops from the north crossed the river into the Verugal district under a hail of artillery fire, sparking a fierce battle with Karuna’s forces on the other side. Nine rebels from both sides were reported killed, among them two teenage female fighters.

The northern group later claimed to have taken Verugal with the surrender of 300 of Karuna’s forces, comprised mostly of teenage boys and girls. The United Nations Children’s Fund immediately called for the teenagers to be released into their care.

At the same time, several northern rebel naval units landed in the coastal village of Katiraveli and were said to be pressing south towards Batticaloa, where Karuna maintains his jungle hideout, in the south-east of the island. The Tigers’ stronghold is the Jaffna peninsula in the north.To enter the area, the northern rebels would have to cross Sri Lankan government-held territory, raising fears that government forces could be drawn into the fray. Government officials were put on red alert yesterday as alarm over the rebel fighting grew.

“We don’t want to get dragged into this,” Ciril Herath, the Defence Secretary, said after a meeting with European ceasefire-monitors in Colombo. “We are watching the situation very closely.”

A rebel foray into government territory would also breach the ceasefire between the Government and the Tigers, which forbids the entry of armed rebels into government-controlled areas. The head of the monitoring team warned the rebels not to risk such a move.

The situation is complicated by the political confusion in Colombo after an inconclusive election failed to yield any party an absolute majority. A new Prime Minister from the United People’s Freedom Alliance has been sworn into office, but has so far failed to secure any coalition partners.

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