"The United States must realise that they are not dealing with a liberation movement but a ruthless killing machine more dangerous than al-Qaeda," Samaraweera said in an interview to 'The Washington Times'.

He urged the US to get tough with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and shut down front groups and charities as well as take measures against Tamil exiles financing the rebels.

The Tamil Tigers, in the view of Samaraweera, are the "godfathers of modern terrorism" with the al-Qaeda even adopting some of the Tiger techniques such as suicide bombings and speedboat assault on naval vessels. More...

Discuss this story Published: Thu Jan 5 11:33:15 EST 2006

Government spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva said he expects Norway’s International Development Minister Erik Solheim, due in Colombo on January 23, 2006 will pressure the Tigers to compromise on their stand that talks must be held in Oslo and agree to a venue in Asia which the government prefers.

"We will tell him to pressure the LTTE to come to a reasonable solution," de Silva told reporters here.

"We hope we will be able to end the deadlock soon," he said.

However, there has been no word from the Tigers on agreeing to a compromise. More...

Discuss this story Published: Thu Jan 5 07:34:07 EST 2006

Military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said that troops on patrol killed the suspected rebel when he tried to attack them with a hand grenade in Kiran, Batticaloa district 220 kilometers (135 miles) east of capital Colombo.

A wire used in anti-personnel mines was also recovered from the suspect after the incident, he added.

However, a pro-rebel Web-site, TamilNet accused the military of killing 24-year-old Rasaratnam Kuganenthiran, a father of one child after he failed to produce his identity card to the patrolling troops.

In a separate attack Thursday, suspected rebels detonated a Claymore anti-personnel mine targeting a military patrol, wounding one soldier near the northern town of Vavuniya, military said. The mine, which can be triggered by remote control, fires hundreds of steel balls propelled by plastic explosives.

No immediate comment was available from the Tamil Tigers and there was no mention of the incidents on the rebels' Web sites.

Meanwhile, security was tight in Trincomalee on Thursday as the funeral of five ethnic Tamils who died earlier in the week under circumstances that the military and the rebels have disputed took place.

The military said the five men were suspected of collaborating with the rebels to ambush a military patrol Monday in Trincomalee when their grenades exploded unexpectedly at a roadside.

However, the rebels said the men came under a grenade attack from government special forces, and the rights group Northeast Secretariat on Human Rights reported that soldiers had opened fire on the victims.

The Defense Ministry announced Wednesday that examinations of the bodies revealed that they had come under gunfire, and ordered an inquiry into the deaths.

The Tamil Tigers began fighting in 1983 for a separate homeland for the country's minority Tamils. A 2002 cease-fire halted the fighting but a wave of attacks over the past month in the country's northeast, most of them bombings and shootings targeting government soldiers, has seriously threatened the truce.

Discuss this story Published: Thu Jan 5 17:13:01 EST 2006