LTTE threatens govt with island-wide war

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was prepared to accept war or peace and was awaiting the government's move on the future of the conflict, rebel military spokesman Rasiah Ilanthiriyan told AFP.

"If the Sri Lankan government wants a war, they will have it everywhere in the island," Ilanthiriyan said by satellite telephone from the rebel-held north. "If they want peace, Tamil people must feel they have peace," he said.

The rebels, fighting for a separate homeland for the Tamil minority in a conflict that has claimed thousands of lives, upped the rhetoric Saturday ahead of next weekend's peace talks to try to restore a 2002 ceasefire.

Peace broker Norway clinched a deal Thursday to resume stalled negotiations in Switzerland in a bid to resurrect the peace process, amid an upsurge in violence that has killed more than 2,300 people since December.

The negotiations were salvaged despite bloody rebel attacks this week including on the southern port of Galle, a popular tourist spot. The three-decade-old conflict has largely been waged in the north and east of this Sinhalese majority country.

Meanwhile Saturday, the Sri Lankan navy said it had killed at least 20 Tamil Tigers and destroyed two rebel boats during a sea battle off the northern peninsula of Jaffna late Friday.

"Naval troops destroyed two Sea Tiger boats, killing 20 Sea Tiger cadres, and inflicted heavy damages to other boats during retaliatory fire," the defence ministry said in a statement.

The state-run media said as many as 35 Tigers were killed.

The LTTE rejected the claim, saying no fighters or boats were lost in the clash, the latest in a series of deadly exchanges in the waters off the island.

"There was no loss of men or material on either side," Ilanthiriyan said.

"Our boats were on a routine exercise when the Sri Lankan navy tried to interfere with them."

The navy also reported at least six Tigers were killed and two boats were destroyed when the rebels tried to storm another naval base in northwest Jaffna peninsula early Saturday.

The claims by both sides could not be independently verified.

Reports of Friday's naval battle came as visiting US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs, Richard Boucher, urged both sides to "lower the temperatures" and enter talks.

Sri Lanka's navy was the target of two suicide bombings this week, including an attack in the northern town of Habarana Monday that killed at least 115 sailors waiting to board buses for home.

On Wednesday, suspected rebel suicide bombers using at least five boats attacked a key naval base in Galle, detonating powerful explosions that killed at least two people and wounded 26, officials and the police said.