President undeterred in resolve for peace

COLOMBO: Following the LTTE suicide bomb attack targeting Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the President's Office said President Mahinda Rajapaksa remains unshaken in his resolve to achieve peace in Sri Lanka and is undeterred in his efforts to combat all forms of terrorism and violence.

In a separate statement, the Government vehemently condemned the terrorist attack. "The modus operandi of the suicide bomb attack has the hallmark of the LTTE which has a long history of suicide bomb attacks on civilian and military targets.

The Government condemns this dastardly attack in no uncertain terms and wishes to emphasise that a democratically elected Government would not succumb to such terror tactics unleashed by the LTTE.

The Government is totally committed to peace. However, it would not shirk its responsibilities towards the people of Sri Lanka and would not hesitate to take appropriate action to safeguard the people and the sovereignty of the State, the statement added.

The Government while urging the LTTE to give up the path of terrorism and resume peace talks genuinely even at this late stage, seeks the cooperation of the international community to impress upon the LTTE the futility of terror tactics and the imperative need for resumption of peace talks to find a lasting political solution.