Sri Lanka?s parliament was suspended briefly yesterday after political proxies of the Tamil Tiger rebels staged a protest, shouting slogans and demanding the army pull back troops in the minority Tamil north of the country. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader R. Sampanthan accused the army of opening fire on peaceful crowds in the Tamil-dominated Jaffna peninsula on Monday and injuring 15 people as student demonstrators clashed with troops. The TNA demanded the government ?withdraw all armed forces from all civilian inhabited areas?, he said.

The army officers in charge in Jaffna should be removed and disciplined, Sampanthan said before he and 15 other alliance members took to the floor of parliament shouting angry slogans. After five minutes, parliament was suspended and cleared, although it resumed later. The TNA is not linked officially to the rebels, but they meet regularly to agree policy and analysts say the Tigers have encouraged voters to back the alliance in parliamentary polls.

The army said it had fired into the air in Jaffna after a crowd incited by the rebels began stoning checkpoints. A local hospital told Reuters at least one person was shot and wounded and protestors said the army had opened fire without provocation. Jaffna was quiet yesterday, but rebels killed a businessman from the Sinhalese majority near Anurandhapura, south of the de facto state controlled by the rebels, an army spokesman said. Rebel attacks ? including two in a government-held enclave in Jaffna in which 14 soldiers were killed ? have raised fears that a 2002 ceasefire might fail and the country could return to a civil war that has already killed 64,000 people.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse opposes rebel demands for a Tamil homeland. The Tigers have rejected an offer by Japan offer to host talks, insisting they want to go through peace broker Norway.

Peter APPS