LTTE seeks Japan's help to halt 'doom'

The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) appealed to Japanese envoy Yasushi Akashi to persuade the Sri Lankan government to halt the spiralling violence. The government has similarly called on the LTTE to halt violence that threatens a ceasefire in place since 2002.

The LTTE's political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan said in a statement that the international community could bring an end to "this warlike attack by the Sri Lanka armed forces and create a more conducive environment for peace talks."

"Thamilselvan added that he had informed the Japanese envoy that the Tamil people by these attacks and repression of their normal life will be forced to take a decision that will bring doom to Sri Lanka," the LTTE statement said.

The statement issued after closed-door talks with Akashi in rebel-held northern territory said the international community must understand the background to the ongoing fighting, which the LTTE blames on government support for a breakaway rebel faction.

Even as the meeting took place in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi, 330km north of here, security forces in Jaffna, further north found a large haul of bombs and ammunition.

Residents in Jaffna also staged a one-day strike to protest against the killing last week of seven Tamil men, police said.

The military claimed the seven were Tamil Tiger rebels shot dead by security forces, but the Tigers maintained they were civilians on their way to a birthday party.

Jaffna's banks and offices closed and public transport stopped running as part of the stoppage, police said.

A curfew imposed Sunday in Jaffna was lifted Monday afternoon, the military said while the main entry and exit points to northern rebel-held territory, closed on Sunday, re-opened Tuesday.

Meanwhile, parliament Tuesday extended by a further month a state of emergency, which gives sweeping powers to security forces to detain suspects, officials said.

The tough laws were introduced after Tiger rebels were blamed for the August assassination of foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

Akashi, who helped raise 4.5 billion dollars in aid to support the island's Norwegian-backed peace process in June 2003, held talks with President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday, officials said.

The government said in a statement it was keen to resume negotiations with the LTTE and end the violence.

"It is imperative that it is through negotiations that the cycle of violence, which is spiralling dangerously out of control, could be brought to a halt," it said.

It urged the Tigers to return to ceasefire talks last held in Switzerland in February. The two parties agreed to meet again on April 19, but the Tigers declined.

Despite a truce signed in 2002, more than 200 people, mostly civilians, have died over the past month in tit-for-tat attacks by government and rebel forces.

Talks on a permanent settlement have stagnated since April 2003 after six rounds of face-to-face discussions.

In the most serious attack since the truce began, a female suicide bomber killed 10 and wounded 30 others including army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka at army headquarters in Colombo on April 25.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in the separatist conflict since 1972.