The decision of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) to invite defectors from the ranks of the main opposition, United National Party (UNP), to be part of the Government is at the root of tensions between Mr. Rajapaksa and Mr. Wickremesinghe.

UNP leaders have argued that it was unethical and immoral on the part of the ruling party to influence members of the Opposition with inducements of government positions, particularly after the October memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the two parties. More... Discuss this story Published: Tue Jan 16 22:13:10 EST 2007

Maj. Upali Rajapakse, a military spokesman, said troops captured a stretch of rebel-held land, killing at least 30 insurgents as the Sri Lankan infantry advanced and the air force bombed a guerrilla camp in Verugal village, in eastern Batticaloa district _ the hotbed of ongoing violence.

But a pro-rebel Web site, quoting a rebel spokesman, said only 12 guerrillas died and seven were wounded. TamilNet said 40 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed.

Both sides routinely inflate the other's death toll and independent confirmation is virtually impossible.

Separately, five soldiers and two policemen were killed in two separate bomb blasts blamed on rebels in the north.

The violence came after Sri Lankan officials said commandoes had found torture chambers at a captured rebel base. The separatists said the cement cells were for holding prisoners and denied any torture had taken place.

The government provided no details to back its assertion that insurgents used the cells to punish informers and people who tried escape their ranks.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said the cells were used to hold captives from a breakaway rebel faction, and that the facility was abandoned a year ago.

Both the government and Tigers have been accused of torturing _ and killing _ dissenters and opponents, and each side routinely accuses the other of committing heinous acts, allegations that are regularly denied and often impossible to verify.

The latest report came late Monday when the ministry posted a statement on its Web site saying, ``Torture chambers and lockups were established to torture escapees and informers, including women cadres'' at a captured camp in the eastern district of Ampara.

The Web site had a photograph taken from outside the four cells, showing a cement structure with four small doorways covered by rusty gates.

Chief military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said Tuesday that ``five escapees who have surrendered have told (government) officers that the facility was being used by the rebels to punish dissidents.''

The rebels said the report was part of a government propaganda campaign to discredit them.

``The Sri Lankan state is now in the process of tarnishing the image of our liberation organization,'' a rebel spokesman, Rasiah Ilanthirayan, said from the insurgents' headquarters in the northern town of Kilinochchi.

The rebels have been fighting for more than 20 years for a separate homeland for the country's 3.1 million minority Tamils, who have suffered decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese.

Although both sides claim to be adhering to a Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire, violence has escalated since late 2005, with more than 3,600 people killed last year alone. Discuss this story Published: Tue Jan 16 10:53:19 EST 2007