Lankan war inevitable if no progress made

Solheim has warned the island not to expect too much from a visit aimed at rebuilding an almost-destroyed 2002 ceasefire. But, like the rebels, government soldiers in the minority Tamil-dominated north and east say they believe war could come in days if he cannot at least get the sides to agree a venue for new talks.

"If nothing happens in the peace talks, war will start," S.S. Elilan, Trincomalee district political leader for the Tamil Tiger rebels, told Reuters through a translator late on Friday.

"If there is no solution, we cannot stay in this situation for long," he said, sitting under a tree in his headquarters in Sampoor, near army lines.

Rising violence has led to international truce monitors questioning whether the Norwegian-brokered truce is holding at all. Each side says the other is trying to provoke them into restarting the two-decade-old conflict that killed more than 64,000 -- this in a region that suffered huge casualties in the 2004 tsunami.

The rebels deny responsibility for a string of lethal strikes on military personnel patrolling areas adjacent to a de facto Tiger state across a large swathe of the north and east, but few believe them. Elilan said the attacks had been conducted by a civilian "third force" angry at alleged mounting army abuses.

He said the government had begun attacking the rebels first through its own third force, a breakaway eastern Tiger faction they say is now government-backed and led by former rebel commander Karuna Amman.

"The peace has gone," Elilan said. "We are ready at any time to start the war."

If it comes, military sources predict an offensive towards the army-held Tamil city of Jaffna, but with other guerrilla actions elsewhere and suicide speedboat attacks on naval shipping from the key Trincomalee base. Elilan would not comment on what could happen.

"You will have to wait and see," he said, switching easily between the Tamil words for "if" and "when" as he discussed possible future conflict.