The Sri Lankan government said Tuesday that Iran has expressed its support for Sri Lanka to solve its ethnic conflict through negotiations.
Iran supports the island's sovereignty, unity and territorial integrity, said Sri Lankan Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement issued at the conclusion of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's two-day state visit.
Iran "welcomed the positive political steps taken to end the conflict through negotiations, leading to a durable settlement, acceptable to all the people of Sri Lanka," said the statement.
Both side condemned terrorism in all its forms and emphasized the need for enhanced international cooperation to eliminate this global menace.
Having taken over control of the Eastern Province last July, Sri Lanka's security forces are currently battling LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) rebels in the north with an aim to crush them before the end of 2008.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority Sinhalese government, the LTTE has been fighting against the government since the mid-1980s to establish an independent homeland for Tamil minorities, resulting in the death of more than 70,000 people in the island.
Military sources said more than 3,000 combatants have been killed from both sides so far this year.
Ahmadinejad wrapped up his visit to Sri Lanka Tuesday afternoon and left for India to continue his South Asia tour.
Source:Xinhua
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