Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) soldi

Colombo, SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka Special Task Force (STF) soldiers search an auto-rickshaw at an emergency check-point during stepped-up security in Colombo, 15 October 2006. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are fighting for a separate homeland in Sri Lanka, inflicted record losses on the army with 130 killed and 500 wounded last week when they repulsed a push into their territory in northern Sri Lanka. More than 2,200 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's restive northern and eastern regions amid an escalation of fighting between government troops and Tiger rebels since December, despite a 2002 truce. Ceasefire monitors say more than half those killed were civilians. AFP PHOTO/Sanka VIDANAGAMA (Photo credit should read SANKA VIDANAGAMA/AFP via Getty Images)