Peace talks deadline passes amid SL violence

Colombo, Apr 23: Sri Lankan troops came under two separate attacks today as the deadline for attending peace talks between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels, meant to begin in less than 24 hours, slipped away.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) initially pulled out of the Geneva talks because of a dispute over how to transport commanders to their northern headquarters for consultations.

The government said it agreed to a new, Norwegian-brokered proposal, but was still awaiting a response from the rebels. It was too late for talks set for April 24-25 in Geneva to go ahead as scheduled, said the head of the government's body for coordinating the peace process.

''Tomorrow is not possible anymore,'' Palitha Kohona told Reuters.

''But we are hoping this time the Tigers will respond favourably and ease the violence that has reached unbearble levels in the north and east,'' he said.

Mine attacks and political murders have become daily events in the past two weeks, killing at least 90, straining a 2002 truce to the breaking point and raising fears of a renewed civil war over Tiger demands for a separate Tamil state.

The government initially agreed to offer the Tigers a 5-seater civilian helicopter to transport commanders for internal meetings the rebels say must take place before they can come to talks. Kohona said they were now offering a 10-seater helicopter.

There was no immediate word on the Tigers' response, but on Saturday they said civilian aircraft were a security risk and they wanted a military craft or permission to use a boat belonging to their Sea Tigers naval unit.

Late yesterday, a policeman in the northeastern area of Trincomalee was seriously wounded by a hand grenade lobbed at the police post.

In the same area a group of army and air force personnel came under a second grenade attack on Sunday morning. No one was injured, the army said.

''They fired back and killed the terrorist and recovered three hand grenades,'' an army spokesman said, referring to the Tigers.

In a third attack, two soldiers were wounded in the eastern area of Batticaloa when an army patrol came under fire. At least one rebel was wounded by retaliatory fire, the spokesman said.

Reuters

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