Sri Lanka violence escalates ahead of talks, one dead

Suspected Tamil Tigers killed one Sri Lankan soldier yesterday and wounded two, the army said, while the rebels also said they had been shot at and ceasefire monitors warned rising violence could hit peace talks.

The army said one soldier had been killed and one wounded after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired on an observation post, while another soldier and civilian were wounded in a fragmentation mine attack on an army truck in the north.

A second round of talks between the government and rebels is due to take place in Switzerland between April 19-21. Violence in December and January, that many had feared would lead to a return to war, declined after the two sides agreed to their first direct meeting since 2003, but is now rising fast.

If the talks fail or falter, some fear the Tigers will return to their two-decade battle for a separate Tamil homeland, a war that has killed more than 64,000 on both sides and devastated parts of the country also hard hit by the 2004 tsunami.

On Friday, two Home Guard troopers were shot dead by suspected Tigers as they walked home in the island's east, while a pro-Tiger politician was gunned down in an assassination the rebels blame squarely on the government.

The rebels, who accused the army of firing on them earlier yesterday, blame the government for backing breakaway ex-rebels, the Karuna group, and using them in repeated attacks on the mainstream rebels. The government denies the charges.

At the first round of talks in Geneva, the Tigers pledged to cease any military action while the government promised to make sure no armed group operated from its territory. Peace broker Norway says neither side has honoured its promises.

The government says Karuna is not operating from their territory - despite testimony to the contrary from Nordic ceasefire monitors - and that they therefore cannot find any armed groups to disarm.