Sri Lanka president doesn't 'believe in military solution'

Sri Lanka's ethnic troubles shouldn't be solved through military means, but the government will not seek a political solution as long as Tamil Tiger rebels engage in terrorism, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said yesterday.

"There has to be a political solution," Rajapaksa told a news briefing, his first remarks to the media since the government last week formally scrapped a 6-year truce with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels (LTTE).

"(But) This (solution) is not with terrorists," he said. "You can't allow them to go free."