The civil war between the two factions of the LTTE rebels has begun. A force of LTTE troops crossed the Verugal river, which separates the traditional northeastern LTTE stronghold from the eastern part of the island, which is less strongly held by the LTTE because more non-Tamils live there. The commander of the LTTE Velupillai Prabhakaran had demanded that subordinates of his dissident subordinate, Karuna, to rebel and arrest their boss. This did not happen. So now its civil war. But it may not last long. The fighting on the  Verugal river did not last long, left eight LTTE fighters dead and 300 of the defending Karuna troops were talked into surrendering. If that pattern continues, Karuna is not going to last long. It is thought that