Forty-two Sri Lankan military personnel were killed in the four weeks to December 28, in attacks believed to have been carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in retaliation for the killing of LTTE supporters. The LTTE, which fought a 20-year war for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the island, signed a peace agreement with the Sri Lankan government in February 2002. The LTTE announced its willingness to consider options other than full independence to resolve the conflict, but the government refused to implement several key points of the ceasefire agreement, including failing to disarm several paramilitary groups. On December 1, two LTTE members were murdered in Jaffna. In the days that followed there was a wave of grenade and claymore mine attacks on government troops. Joseph Pararajasingham, a member of parliament from the Tamil National Alliance, which is allied to the LTTE, was murdered at mass on Christmas Day.

From Green Left Weekly, January 25, 2006.
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