Norway steps up move to save Lankan peace

A Sri Lankan policeman checks the bicycle of a local man at a check-point in the north-eastern Sri Lankan port city of Trincomalee yesterday. Four people, including three policemen, were killed in separate mine blasts blamed on Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday as Norway launched a fresh bid to save the island's tottering peace process. PHOTO: AFP

Police said one attack, at Seerunuwara village in Trincomalee, happened as they were searching for landmines. One officer died and a second was injured, military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said.

"They followed up the attack with small arms fire at the victims," Samarasinghe said. "Police fired back."

A police vehicle responding to the blast was then attacked with another Claymore mine that wounded four more men, a police official said, adding that two of them later succumbed to their injuries.

A civilian was also killed and at least five homes set on fire in what appeared to be inter-communal clashes sparked by the mine attacks. Security in the area has been stepped up, police said.

The latest violence comes after Norwegian peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer failed in a bid to persuade Tamil Tiger rebels to attend rescheduled talks with the Colombo government in Switzerland next week aimed at salvaging a ceasefire.

Norwegian embassy spokesman Erik Nurnberg said Hanssen-Bauer was spending Friday holding discussions with Sri Lankan officials while the head of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission, Ulf Henricsson, had travelled to the rebels' political capital Kilinochchi.

Plan Implementation Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Henricsson will stay overnight in Kilinochchi to discuss a detailed plan from Colombo to move Tiger commanders from the island's east to the north.

The Tigers had insisted that they needed to hold internal consultations before attending ceasefire talks in Switzerland and demanded transport concessions, which Colombo initially turned down.

However, Rambukwella said Colombo had now agreed to allow the Tigers to hire private helicopters and operate any number of sorties to transport their men.

"We are hoping to be able to know a definite word on the Swiss talks after tomorrow," Rambukwella told reporters here. "We have been extremely flexible."

Tiger leaders had also demanded new conditions of security in the troubled regions before attending talks.

Tamil Tiger spokesman V. Dayanidi confirmed talks would be held with Henricsson, saying the LTTE would be represented by peace secretariat head S. Puleedevan.

The Swiss talks were originally due on April 19 but were later put off for five days at the request of the Tigers.

The ceasefire has come under renewed pressure in the past two weeks due to a spate of bomb attacks.

At least 67 people were killed in the bombings alone while the Tigers said more than a dozen were killed in attacks carried out by pro-government militia.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in three decades of ethnic bloodshed between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils.