(Updates with military denial) By Ranga Sirilal COLOMBO, March 6 (Reuters) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers said on Thursday an Army special forces unit blew up a rebel-backed member of parliament in their northern stronghold with a roadside bomb, and a party colleague confirmed his death. It was the latest in a string of attacks inside rebel territory using Claymore mines as roadside bombs that the rebels have blamed on government troops, who are using the Tigers' own deadly methods against them as a 25-year civil war escalates. K. Sivanesan, an MP with the rebel-backed Tamil National Alliance (TNA), was driving near his home in Mankulam in the Tigers' de facto state in the far north of the island when the blast occurred, killing him and his driver, his party said. "It was an Army deep penetration unit," rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiraiyan said by telephone. "His vehicle was precisely targeted, because there were several vehicles travelling along this road. It's another example of how the regime in Colombo acts." The military denied any hand in the attack. "We don't know what exactly happened because it has occurred in an uncontrolled area," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. "There are no deep penetration units operating in that area. We totally deny it." Sivanesan had attended a meeting in parliament on Wednesday. "He left the parliament quarters after attending the parliament sessions yesterday," said fellow MP Suresh Premachandran. "Most probably in those areas the Army is deploying deep penetration units," he added. "This fellow is a victim of that." The attack came as Sri Lanka's government faced a barrage of criticism over its human rights record. Human Rights Watch issued a report on Thursday accusing the government of being responsible for widespread abductions and disappearances as it fights the Tigers, which the government denies. And a panel of international experts observing a Sri Lankan investigation into a raft of human rights abuses and killings said on Thursday it was quitting Sri Lanka, accusing the government of hindering the process and saying the probe was seriously flawed. Analysts say the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of the long-running war given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east. But they still see no clear winner on the horizon. An estimated 70,000 people have died since the civil war began in 1983. Since the start of 2006, more than 6,500 rebels, 1,200 military personnel and over 980 civilians have been killed, according to the military, which says it aims to defeat the Tigers by the end of the year. (Writing by Simon Gardner; Editing by Alex Richardson)
A man, part of a group of people who survived after their wooden boat stalled at sea, receives medical treatment from the navy's medical officers at the port of Trincomalee March ...
