Saturday, December 10 2005 15:10 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: Blaming the military for the spike in violence in Sri Lanka's troubled northern and eastern regions, the Tamil Tiger rebels today (December 10, 2005) asked peace broker Norway to arrange urgent talks with the Government to defuse possibility of a war.

"Civilian unrest and accelerating violence is due to intensified military violence against the people and sabotage activities of armed groups that work on a political agenda alongside the Sri Lanka military," the LTTE political wing leader S. P. Thamilselvan alleged.

He told Norwegian ambassador Hans Brattskar that LTTE was ready for immediate talks with Sri Lankan authorities to discuss the full implementation of a ceasefire that is in place since February 2002.

"Our commitment to the ceasefire and the peace process remains undiluted and what we request now is to urgently arrange a high-level meeting between the parties," Thamilselvan was quoted as saying in their official website.

Rejecting a call by new President Mahinda Rajapakse to revise the ceasefire, Thamilselvan said only direct negotiation could bring about normalcy and avoid confrontational postures between the civilians and the "occupying military," a reference to the government military deployment in troubled regions.

At least 31 people were killed in the latest bout of violence in the island, sparking fears that the country was sliding back into war.