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Sri Lankas government admitted Thursday that somernmilitary personnel supported and possibly sheltered a renegade rebel leaderrndespite Tamil Tiger warnings that such acts would damage efforts to end thernislands 19-year civil war.rn
In March, rebel leader Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, also known asrnKaruna, broke away from the main Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam faction,rntaking with him 6,000 of the separatist groups fighters in eastern SrirnLanka.rn

rn His breakaway group was defeated by mainline Tamil Tiger forces inrnApril, but Muralitharan and a band of his comrades disappeared, bolsteringrnspeculation that he was an agent of Sri Lankan security forces who hoped tornsplit and weaken the rebel movement.rn

A comrade of Muralitharan who returned to the main fold last week saidrnthe breakaway group was protected by the military. The security forces haverndenied involvement.

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"Its obvious there have been some military personnel involved," Cabinetrnspokesman Mangala Samaraweera told repor