SL to rebels: Stop attacks and we'll open road

Colombo, Oct 31: Sri Lanka said today it would give in to a key Tamil Tiger demand to reopen the island's main north-south highway if the rebels halt attacks, just hours after a soldier was killed in an ambush.

Weekend peace talks in Geneva collapsed over the government's closure in August of the A-9 highway, which runs through rebel territory and to the isolated army-held Jaffna peninsula in the north.

The government has so far refused saying rebel artillery fire makes the road unsafe. Analysts say the closure is also helping curb rebel movement and their funds including ''tax'' collected from those using the highway in their territory.

''If they behave well, we will open the A-9,'' Health Minister and chief government negotiator Nimal Siripala de Silva told a news conference on his return to Colombo today.

''If normalcy returns, if they behave like good boys and if they give assurances, we will open it.'' The Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the offer, but have said they will only consider resuming talks once the road is open.

De Silva's offer came after suspected rebels ambushed a truck carrying troops in the northern district of Vavuniya in which one soldier died and three others were injured.

It also came after the foes fought artillery and mortar bomb duels in the north and the east yesterday, after the collapse of the talks deepened fears a new chapter of the island's two-decade civil war will become bloodier.

The talks ended on Sunday with both sides unable even to agree on whether or not to meet again for talks in the future, prompting mediator Norway to appeal to both sides to take time to reflect and not draw hasty conclusions.

The Tigers said their reclusive leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, would outline the rebels' gameplan during his annual ''Heroes Day'' speech due in November.

''The Sri Lankan government is going to bring another genocidal war on our people after stopping the work of the SLMM (Nordic truce monitors) on some false pretext,'' the rebels official Web site quoted Tiger political wing leader S P Thamilselvan as saying.

''Our people will wage the struggle to free themselves under our leader's direction,'' he added.

Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war has already killed more than 65,000 people since 1983.

REUTERS