Word: lankans
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...massacre bore all the hallmarks of the guerrilla group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and came almost exactly one year after Indian troops launched their offensive to disarm the Tigers. Indian soldiers had arrived in Sri Lanka in July 1987 to help implement an Indo-Sri Lankan agreement that gives the minority Tamils a greater measure of autonomy. But militants on opposite sides of the bloody Sri Lankan conflict united in rejecting the agreement...
President Jayewardene had his hands full in the south, meanwhile, as radicals among the Sinhalese majority continued their own agitation against the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement. Even schoolchildren took part in last week's protests, resulting in three student deaths before the government closed down all schools indefinitely. On Monday the J.V.P. called for a "day of resistance" against the provincial election. More in fear than in sympathy -- the J.V.P. has in the past year murdered some 450 supporters of the accord -- most of the Sinhalese population cooperated. The strike marked the second time in a month that Sinhalese rebels...
...fighting by the island's Tamil separatists, the assumption was that the operation would be relatively quick and painless. After all, India's soldiers outnumbered the roughly 2,000 members of the ragtag Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam more than 3 to 1, and had the backing of Sri Lankan President Junius R. Jayewardene. But the offensive dragged on, offering little hope that the guerrillas will give up their four-year battle for an independent Tamil homeland...
Meanwhile, 13 Tiger guerrillas, including three of Prabakaran's most trusted lieutenants, committed suicide by swallowing cyanide following their capture by the Sri Lankan navy two weeks ago. According to a Sri Lankan official, the deaths made Prabakaran "lose control" of himself. In a series of terrorist attacks, mainly in the east, the Tigers killed 170 civilians belonging to the country's Sinhalese majority. In addition, 27 Sri Lankan soldiers and policemen died at the hands of the rebels...
...appealed to Gandhi for a cease-fire to "negotiate matters." Gandhi, however, has apparently stopped listening. Instead, he sent some 1,000 Indian reinforcements to the island in preparation for a final assault. Prabakaran and his men showed every sign of resisting to the end. But as one Sri Lankan intelligence officer observed with much satisfaction, it will be "only a matter of time before the Indians smash...