Colombo: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels on March 12 announced they will remain locked in peace talks with the government although the rank and file was restless after the Navy's sinking of a guerrilla-owned ship.

The top Tamil Tiger peace negotiator, Anton Balasingham, said they were at the "end of their tether" after Monday's sinking of the unnamed Tamil Tiger vessel that the Navy said was trying to smuggle in weapons.

"We have gone to the end of the tether. There is lot of anger and resentment among our cadres over this incident," Balasingham was quoted as saying in the pro-rebel Tamilnet web site on March 12.

However, Balasingham said they were not pulling out of the ongoing peace process aimed at ending three decades of ethnic violence that has claimed over 60,000 lives.

"Despite provocation and attacks on us we are determined to participate constructively in the peace process. We want to convince the world, particularly the Sinhala people, that we are committed to peace," Balasingham said.

He said the Tigers will remain in talks even if there was a change of government in Colombo, but warned that it might be difficult to work with the Marxist JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Perumana), or the People's Liberation Front, which is coming together with President Chandrika Kumaratunga's party.

President Kumaratunga whose People's Alliance is in the Opposition has hinted that she may sack the government of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's handling of the peace process.

The JVP on the other hand, is totally opposed to Norway being a peace broker and is against the ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers.

On Monday (Mar 10), the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) had warned that there would be "far reaching implications" for the peace process following the Navy action against their merchant vessel in high seas off the island's North Eastern coast.

Both the government and the LTTE are set to open their sixth round of peace talks in Hakone, Japan from March 18 to 21. The talks are expected to focus on revenue sharing.

Meanwhile, Defence Minister Tilak Marapane in a letter to the LTTE's political wing leader S P Thamilselvan said on March 12, the government supported an independent probe into the sinking of the vessel.

Marapane said there should be a wider investigation to see if there had been any truce violation as well as a flouting of standard international maritime norms by the LTTE. PTI