Sri Lanka rebels lift water blockade, say truce holds

KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka, Aug 6 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers said today they would lift a blockade on water supplies to government areas and that a 2002 ceasefire still held, but warned further attacks by the military would mean war.

Tiger political wing leader. S.P. Thamilselvan said the Tigers would unblock a sluice gate in the east -- a blockage that plunged the island into a fresh bout of civil war -- if the government agreed to their demands.

''Our leader has agreed to open the sluice on humanitarian grounds,'' Thamilselvan told reporters in the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi after talks with Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer.

''The ceasefire is on at the moment, and if the military continues attacks and shellings and makes any more moves, we will consider it as a full scale war.'' Reuters BDP DB1316