Sri Lanka strikes stop as island teeters on brink

COLOMBO, Apr 27 (Reuters) Sri Lanka stopped bombing Tamil Tiger targets and reopened borders with rebel territory today, but with the island teetering on the brink of war the police said a fragmentation mine blast killed two sailors.

Both sides have vowed to retaliate if attacked again after heavy firing Tuesday night and Wednesday caused thousands to flee their homes and raised fears a 2002 ceasefire could collapse.

If violence stops, diplomats say peace talks might still be possible. But if it intensifies, they fear a return to war.

Police in the northern army-held Jaffna enclave said a suspected Tiger claymore mine blast killed two sailors, while two policemen were wounded in a claymore attack near the northwest coast.

Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said claymore blasts would not provoke air attacks.

''It was suspected LTTE. But for a claymore mine blast we don't respond with air strikes,'' Samarasinghe said after the first blast.

The strikes on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territory in the northeast followed a suspected Tiger suicide bomb attack on army headquarters in Colombo killed 10 and wounded the army commander.

The pro-rebel Web site Tamilnet (www.tamilnet.com) quoted Tiger northeastern political chief S Elilan as saying the rebels awaited instructions from their leadership, but any retaliation would be ''catastrophically disabling and devastating''.

The Tigers say more than 12 civilians were killed in the government air and artillery strikes on their territory around the northeastern port of Trincomalee. They also say some 40,000 people have fled their homes.

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