A Sri Lanka army special motorcycle unit

A Sri Lanka army special motorcycle unit soldier keeps watch during a search operation in the capital Colombo, 21 November 2006 as security was stepped up ahead of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Martyr's Day which falls on 27 November. Sri Lankan air force military jets bombed a suburb of the Tamil Tiger's northern political capital near the rebel headquarters of Kilinochchi, 330 kilometres (205 miles) north of Colombo at what the military said was an insurgent training site of a training base of the "Sea Tigers". The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan government have escalated fighting in the past year in tit-for-tat battles that have claimed thousands of lives despite a 2002 ceasefire agreement. The bitter ethnic conflict has claimed at least 60,000 lives since it began in 1972. AFP PHOTO/Sanka VIDANAGAMA (Photo credit should read SANKA VIDANAGAMA/AFP via Getty Images)