Wickramanayake addressing a public function at Galigomuva, 157 km northwest of Colombo urged the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels to adhere to the Norwegian backed cease-fire.

"Only the government can not maintain the cease-fire and the other party must also abide by it," Wickramanayake told the gathering referring to the violence that has claimed over 100 lives since Dec. 1, 2005.

The casualties include military personnel, civilians and members of militant groups.

Soldiers of the Army and sailors of the Sri Lankan Navy account for almost half of the death toll due to persistent attacks on the security forces raising fears of return to hostilities for the first time since 2001.

The main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, the architect of the ongoing cease-fire and direct talks with the Tamil Tigers said that resumption of peace negotiations was the only way to check the cycle of violence.

Addressing a gathering of his party activists at Polonnaruwa, 217 km northeast of Colombo in the North Central Province Wickremesinghe blamed the inability to start peace talks for the violence.

"More the talks get delayed more advantageous it is for the Tigers," Wickremesinghe said, stressing that President Mahinda Rajapakse and his predecessor Chandrika Kumaratunga had failed to re-start peace negotiations with the LTTE rebels.

The visit scheduled for later this month by the Norwegian Minister for International Development Erik Solheim is much awaited as his visit has raised hopes of both sides being impressed upon to return to the negotiating table. More...

Discuss this story Published: Sun Jan 15 13:48:13 EST 2006

The city's World Trade Center, Central Bank building and port may be targets of a Tiger attack as surging violence threatens a four-year-old cease-fire, the Sunday Leader newspaper said, citing an intelligence report.

Attackers could use explosive-laden vehicles, the news report said. The rebels have twice used suicide truck bombs in deadly attacks, hitting the Central Bank in 1987 and the World Trade Center in 1997.

``We have taken all possible security precautions in Colombo, and our forces are on full alert,'' said Deputy Inspector General of Police P. Jayasundara. He declined to comment on the news report.

Separately, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE the Tigers' formal name announced they were training sharpshooters.

``Interrelationship between technical advances, tactical innovation and battlefield capability mandates that skilled sharpshooters become an important component of our fighting force,'' the Tigers' Web site quoted a senior rebel commander Col. Theepan, as saying.

Like many of the rebels, Theepan uses a single name.

The Tigers who fought since 1983 for a separate homeland in the northeast for ethnic minority Tamils, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese have been blamed for only one attack in Colombo since signing a 2002 Norway-brokered cease-fire with the government. The civil war killed more than 65,000 people.

Before the truce, Tiger suicide bombers mounted numerous attacks on government facilities and on the rebels' opponents.

After the cease-fire was signed, peace talks broke down due to disagreements over rebel demands for broad autonomy in the Tamil-majority northeast.

The government has blamed the Tigers for a spate of attacks that have killed 72 security forces since Dec. 4, sparking fears the cease-fire could collapse. The Tigers have denied involvement in the violence.

On Sunday, soldiers in full battle gear were posted on Colombo's major roads. Heavily armed troops patrolled the streets in military vehicles.

Meanwhile, the Tigers denied involvement in a grenade attack Friday on a European cease-fire monitors' compound, calling it a bid to sabotage the truce.

Attackers in the eastern city of Batticaloa, 220 kilometers (135 miles) east of Colombo, hurled a grenade into the compound, damaging three vehicles. No injuries were reported.

``Our leadership views this attack as an attempt to wreck the cease-fire agreement,'' the Tigers' Web site quoted their top political leader, S.P. Thamilselvan, as saying Sunday.

Discuss this story Published: Sun Jan 15 12:28:19 EST 2006

The officials said they had made arrangements to accommodate them at the Mandapam transit camp near here. The refugees, who arrived on Saturday, included two men, a woman, and two children. They belong to Jaffna.

They said they had paid Rs.3000 per head to a boat operator for ferrying them to India from Sri Lanka. A group of 24 Sri Lankan Tamils arrived here from Talaimannar on Thursday, the first after hostilities broke out between the Sri Lankan army and suspected Tamil tiger rebels on January 7 off Trincomalee.

Another batch of nine Lankan Tamils arrived here from Desalai in Mannar district on Friday. More...

Discuss this story Published: Sat Jan 14 13:44:39 EST 2006