Lanka revives tough anti-terror laws targeting Tigers

targeting Tamil Tiger rebels but stopped short of banning them to deal with spiralling violence, a top official source said.

Colombo kept the door open for talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by rejecting calls from hardline nationalist allies to outlaw the rebels after a suicide bomber tried to kill the defence secretary last Friday.

The cabinet agreed to reactivate some provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the Public Security Ordinance to give sweeping powers to security forces to detain suspects, a top official told AFP.

But it held back from banning the rebels to leave room for Norwegian peacebrokers to try and revive a faltering peace initiative and 2002 ceasefire that lies in tatters, a diplomatic source said.

"This shows that they (the government) are trying to act tough without ending the peace process," the diplomat close to the process said.

The Tamil Tigers are outlawed in several countries, including across the 25-member European Union, the United States and in neighbouring India. A Sri Lankan ban on the rebels was lifted in 2002 ahead of reviving peace talks.

The anti-terror laws had also effectively been suspended following the 2002 Norwegian-brokered truce with the LTTE.

The LTTE has been fighting for independence for the island's minority 2.5 million Tamil community in the majority Sinhalese nation of 19.5 million people.

The government source said the cabinet was keen to ensure that bringing back PTA provisions did not affect the ceasefire agreement amid fears that the restoration of the draconian laws would mean the end of the truce.