In a meeting with Sri Lanka's foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama Monday, British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said violence came with too high a price for all the people of Sri Lanka."

"I stressed that there can be no military solution alone to the conflict," Beckett said.

The Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, known also as the Tamil Tigers, have been in an unending crisis for many years. More... Discuss this story Published: Wed Mar 7 23:27:53 EST 2007

In a judgment published Wednesday, Appeal Court Justice S. Sriskandarajah turned down a petition filed by Sinhala Jathikasangamaya, a majority Sinhala nationalist organization, saying there is no legal basis for the application.

''Deliberations in the Cabinet amongst its members including the head of the Cabinet are a matter for the Cabinet and not for this court,'' he said.

The cease-fire agreement, or CFA, now exists only on paper amid the country's renewed civil war.

The judge, however, noted that the agreement has been in operation during the tenure of two executive presidents of the country and two governments of different political parties.

''This shows the desire of the president and consecutive governments to have the said agreement in force to achieve the objects enumerated in the preamble of the said agreement,'' the judge said.Discuss this story Published: Wed Mar 7 09:09:31 EST 2007

Military spokesman Big. Prasad Samarasinghe blamed the rebels for both attacks. In the first incident, suspected rebels fatally shot a policeman.

About three hours later, a roadside bomb exploded near a police jeep, killing one police officer and injuring three others, Samarasinghe said. A nearby civilian was also wounded, he said.

One of the injured policemen was in critical condition, local police officer H.M. Jayathilake said.

Vavuniya is the last government-held town before territory controlled by the Tamil Tigers, who have been fighting since 1983 to create a separate state in the north and northeast for the country's ethnic Tamil minority following decades of discrimination by the Sinhalese majority.

Also Wednesday, police said 452 people have been detained since last year under the island's tough anti-terrorism laws on suspicion of helping Tamil rebels.

``These people have been arrested on different issues under the public security ordinance. Among the reason are aiding and abetting LTTE organization and activities, also helping suicide bombers...'' said police spokesman Jayantha Wickremaratne, using the initials of the guerrilla's official name, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

He said police, army officers, journalists and students some of them from majority Sinhalese community are among the detained.

About 4,000 people have died in escalating violence since late 2005, when a Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire faltered, European cease-fire monitors say.

About 65,000 people were killed before the truce was signed. Published: Wed Mar 7 09:08:48 EST 2007