Subversive war rages on in Lanka: Envoy

Major Gen. Trond Furuhovde, the former head of the team of Nordic monitors who oversee the island's shaky truce, appealed to the state and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to exercise self-discipline to ensure the ceasefire does not disintegrate.

"This is subversive war," Furuhovde, visiting Sri Lanka as a special representative of Norway's government, told Sri Lanka's Foreign Correspondents' Association late on Friday.

"Both parties are involved in this," he added. "It is alarming. All war is alarming. This is dangerous for the ceasefire and for the country."

Dozens of police, soldiers and rebel cadres have been killed in a rash of attacks in recent months, culminating in the August assassination of the island's foreign minister, but monitors have been unable to pin down proof on who is responsible.

The Tigers and the military alike deny any involvement in the killings, which continued during Furuhovde's week-long visit, each blaming the violence on the other.

"The parties, as they are involved in a subversive warfare, have to show self-discipline. We believe that peace talks is an alternative which is very useful," Furuhovde said. "There is no military solution to this conflict, that's for sure."