Washington: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels have not renounced terrorism or disbanded its "Black Tiger" suicide squads despite the progress of the peace process, a US State Department report has said.

However, the ceasefire between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Sri Lankan Government held throughout 2003, despite a political crisis that has delayed the resumption of direct talks between the two sides, it said in its 'Patterns of Global Terrorism' report yesterday (Apr 29, 2004).

In contrast, the Maoists in Nepal abrogated an eight-month ceasefire and resumed their campaign of armed attacks, bombings, assassinations, and extortion against the Government and citizens of Nepal, the report said.

International aid has begun to reach Sri Lankans living in LTTE-controlled territory, addressing one of the obstacles to a negotiated settlement, it said.

The report said there were no LTTE suicide bomb attacks throughout 2003, and the group continues to pursue ways to further peace talks.

The LTTE, says that the report, has publicly accepted the concept of internal autonomy within a federal Sri Lankan State, conceding its longstanding demand for a separate Tamil Eelam State. In support of the peace process, the US Government has made limited working level contact with LTTE authorities to facilitate delivery of humanitarian aid.

Despite this progress, said the report, the LTTE, "one of the world's deadliest terror groups," has not renounced terrorism.