Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tiger rebels today (Jul 11, 2004) declared that they were prepared to go back to fighting with Government forces, but stopped short of officially pulling out of a truce.

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in their hardest-hitting statement so far, accused President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Government of trying to use a split in the rebel movement to weaken them.

"We are ready to face the war that the Sri Lankan State has decided thrust on us thus," LTTE's Eastern political wing leader, E Kousalyan, was quoted as saying in the pro-rebel Tamilnet website.

Kousalyan said State radio had given air time today to broadcast an interview with breakaway leader V Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, who led a revolt against the LTTE leadership in March and went underground in April.

Karuna disbanded 5,000 to 6,000 fighters under his command. The Tigers have since accused military intelligence and police of collaborating with Karuna to wage a "proxy war" against the Tigers despite a Norwegian-brokered truce.

"The truth is out today beyond any doubt that the Sri Lankan State is providing him (Karuna) State facilities to wage a proxy war of black propaganda against the LTTE and to carry out terrorist attacks with the assistance Sri Lankan military intelligence to derail the ceasefire," Kousalyan said.