Tamil Tigers still getting arms from Cambodia: report

PHNOM PENH, July 23, 2007 (AFP) - Tamil Tiger rebels are still getting weapons smuggled from Cambodia, which are fuelling spiraling unrest in Sri Lanka, a security journal reported.





"Cambodia is one of the most significant single sources of weapons for the insurgent group," Jane's Intelligence Review said in a report published online last week, without naming any sources.

Interior ministry spokesman Khieu Sopheak acknowledged Monday that some weapons might still be getting to the Tigers, but said any smuggling would be small-scale.

"There could be some bad people involved....

We would like information to lead us to the offenders," he told AFP.

"We are victims of weapons, so we don't want people in other countries to suffer the same crisis," he said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been fighting Sri Lanka's government for an independent homeland since the 1970s in a conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives.

Weapons from Cambodia had filled Tiger arsenals in the past, but officials here had assured the Sri Lankan government that the arms trade has stopped.

Cambodia remains awash in arms after decades of civil war.

But the g