Sri Lanka raids rebels, finds bomb after Tigers OK talks

COLOMBO, Oct 4 (Reuters) Sri Lanka's air force pounded Tamil Tiger positions in the island's far north and a powerful roadside bomb was defused in the capital today, officials said, a day after the rebels agreed to crunch peace talks.

The military said Israeli-made Kfir fighter jets struck rebel targets in and around the northern Jaffna peninsula, saying it was responding to Tiger artillery fire.

Separately, police blamed suspected Tigers for planting a primed Claymore mine near a police officers' mess in a majority Tamil neighbourhood in Colombo -- the second such find in as many months.

''A garbage collector had found the bomb and informed a nearby police post. We have defused it,'' said an official of the police trooper Special Task Force bomb disposal unit. ''It's definitely by the LTTE. It's similar to other Claymores we found in Colombo.'' The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were not immediately available for comment on the incidents, which come after a source close to the negotiations told Reuters yesterday they have agreed to attend crunch peace talks with the government in Oslo on October 28-30.

However the Tigers have warned a tattered 2002 ceasefire will collapse completely if military attacks on their territory continue.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has yet to give the final word on whether the government agrees to the Tiger talk dates and venue.

However officials have called the Tiger talks gesture positive, and see no problem with the dates.

''We were ready to have talks on October 25-30, so there is no difference,'' said Defence Spokesman and cabinet minister Keheliya Rambukwella.

The government and the rebels have repeatedly said they are ready to resume talks after the Tigers pulled out of an earlier round in April.

But sporadic fighting and killings continue and Nordic truce monitors see little will from either side to halt the violence.

Some analysts fear talks might be premature given the upsurge in fighting, the worst since the truce, and fear fighting that his killed hundreds of civilians, troops and rebels since late July and displaced tens of thousands of people could deepen and derail the latest initiative.

Analysts suspect shadowy Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is seeking to buy time, and is ready for his political wing to talk with the government to give his forces the chance to regroup after fierce aerial bombing, artillery and rocket fire by the security forces.

REUTERS PDM PM1420