More Blasts In Sri Lanka As Norway Mounts New Peace Bid

Agence France Press

April 21, 2006

Two more mines exploded in Sri Lanka, killing a policeman and wounding five others, police said. The attacks came as Norway launched a fresh bid to save the island's tottering peace process.

Police said one attack, at Seerunuwara village in Trincomalee, happened as they were searching for landmines. One officer died and a second was injured.

A police vehicle responding to the blast was then attacked with a Claymore mine that wounded four more men, a police official said.

A civilian was also killed and at least five homes set on fire in what appeared to be inter-communal clashes sparked by the mine attacks. Security in the area has been stepped up, police said.

The latest violence comes after Norway failed in its bid to persuade Tamil Tiger rebels to attend rescheduled talks with the Colombo government in Switzerland next week aimed at salvaging a ceasefire.

But Ulf Henricsson, head of the Norwegian peace mission, mounted a fresh bid Friday to try to end the impasse over transport arrangements for Tiger cadres and clear the way for the Swiss talks.

Diplomats said Henricsson, was travelling to the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi with a new proposal on moving Tiger commanders from the island's east to the north.

The Tigers had insisted that they needed to hold internal consultations before attending ceasefire talks in Switzerland and demanded transport concessions which Colombo initially turned down.

Tiger leaders had also demanded new conditions of security in the troubled regions before attending talks.

Norwegian embassy spokesman Erik Nurnberg denied local media reports that Hanssen-Bauer was heading for more talks with the rebels on Friday, saying he was spending the day holding discussions with Sri Lankan officials.

Tamil Tiger spokesman V. Dayanidi said the head of the rebels' peace secretariat S. Puleedevan was due to hold talks with the truce monitoring chief Friday on the new proposal to transport Tiger cadres.

Hanssen-Bauer briefed top government representatives late Thursday after his meeting with the Tigers, officials said. Details of the discussions were not known.

The Swiss talks were originally due on April 19 but were later put off for five days at the request of the Tigers.

The ceasefire has come under renewed pressure in the past two weeks due to a spate of bomb attacks.

At least 65 people were killed in the bombings alone while the Tigers said more than a dozen were killed in attacks carried out by pro-government militia.

More than 60,000 people have been killed in three decades of ethnic bloodshed between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils.