Lanka seeks EU ban on Tigers to save truce

The request came as 14 more people were killed in fresh violence linked to the latest clashes with Tamil Tiger guerrillas in the island's embattled northern and eastern regions.

The government said it expected the 25-member EU to press ahead with a threatened move to list the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a "terrorist organisation" and cut off overseas funding.

"We expect the European Union to go ahead with the threatened sanctions if the LTTE continues to behave in this appalling manner and engages in terrorism," the head of the government's peace secretariat Palitha Kohona said.

Kohona said they expected an EU-wide ban on the LTTE to encourage the guerrillas to participate in talks in Switzerland, a non-EU member, and discuss how to save a ceasefire in place since 2002.

He said the LTTE had been giving "flimsy excuses" for staying away from the talks originally slated for April 19 in Switzerland, and then rescheduled for April 24.

Last week the Tigers postponed the talks indefinitely citing the government's failure to curtail paramilitaries and transport difficulties for internal consultation, which they say are essential before the Swiss talks.

A request by the rebels for use of government helicopters to travel to the consultations was first declined, but later Colombo agreed to allow the use of chartered private helicopters.

The government denies supporting the paramilitaries, a charge made by the Tigers.

"There is a limit to entertaining excuses," Kohona told reporters. "The package of excuses may have now run out."

The EU slapped travel restrictions on the Tamil Tigers in October, two months after holding the guerrillas responsible for the August assassination of then Sri Lankan foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.

The EU at the time warned the Tigers that they may face a ban across EU member states unless they gave up the use of "terrorism".

Britain has banned the Tigers since 2001. Two weeks ago, Canada added the Tigers to its list of terrorist organisations.

Media Minister Anura Yapa said the government expected international pressure on the Tamil Tigers to push the island's peace efforts to end three decades of ethnic bloodshed that has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.

Defence officials said five security personnel and three Tiger rebels were killed in fresh clashes during a 24-hour period over the weekend while six civilians were also gunned down by suspected Tiger rebels.