Suspected Tiger attack kills 4 S.Lanka soldiers

COLOMBO, Apr 10: Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels killed four Sri Lankan soldiers and wounded two in an ambush today, the army said, hours after international envoys visited the rebels ahead of talks in Switzerland next week.

Violence has risen sharply in the past week and international ceasefire monitors say they fear that the upcoming talks -- seen as key to averting a return to the island's two-decade civil war -- and even the 2002 truce could be in jeopardy.

''It's a claymore attack,'' said army spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe, adding that the army suspected the rebels. ''Four soldiers are dead, two are wounded. They were patrolling in a vehicle.'' The attack is the worst on land since the two sides agreed in January to hold their first direct talks since 2003. The rebels and government are due to meet in Geneva between April 19 and 21 for the next round of discussions, but the rebels have yet to say for certain if they will attend.

A string of suspected Tiger attacks in December and January pushed the country to the brink of war. Tensions then fell with the prospect of talks but neither side trusts the other and peace broker Norway says neither has yet made good on its first-round promises.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), de facto rulers of a seventh of Sri Lanka who want a separate homeland for the island's Tamil minority, have repeatedly threatened war unless the government gives them concessions.

RENEGADE REBEL OFFICE HIT Ambassadors from Japan, the European Union and Norway had visited the rebel capital earlier today to meet the head of the Tigers' political wing at their headquarters in Kilinochchi.

The rebels say the government is backing the Karuna group of renegade ex-Tigers against them, and want them disarmed. The government said in Geneva it would disarm armed groups, but now denies any are operating in government-held areas despite testimony to the contrary from ceasefire monitors.

Karuna's political wing, which says it wants to supplant the mainstream rebels, opened its first office in the army-held eastern town of Batticaloa today. The army said a suspected Tiger grenade exploded shortly afterwards 500 metres away, but no one was hurt.

The Tigers blame Karuna and the army for a string of recent attacks, including the murder of a pro-rebel politician in the northeastern port of Trincomalee on Friday.

REUTERS