1.   No one claimed immediate responsibility, but officials blamed the Liberation Tigers for Tamil Eelam, which is fighting for an independent Tamil homeland.

2.   Rather than the numbness to violence, the biggest obstacle to peace may be that neither side is willing to compromise on the question of a Tamil homeland.

3.   She may also be prepared to forgo a separate Tamil homeland, so long, she said, as she can live with the rights of a free citizen.

4.   The attack was believed to have been the work of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who have been fighting for a separate Tamil homeland.

5.   Prabhakaran has never wavered on his goal of a Tamil homeland in the north and east.

6.   Police believe it is linked to Tamil Tiger rebels fighting in the northern and eastern provinces for a Tamil homeland.

7.   A Ministry of Defense spokesman blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the main group fighting to carve an ethnic Tamil homeland out of this Indian Ocean island.

8.   Among them were the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the main rebel group fighting in neighboring Sri Lanka for an ethnic Tamil homeland.

9.   Colombo has been attacked twice in the last two months by rebels fighting to carve out an ethnic Tamil homeland on the Indian Ocean island nation.

10.   Earlier, the government had insisted that the rebels lay down arms and drop its call for a separate Tamil homeland if talks were to be held.