Sri Lanka says no change of plans to hold peace talks

The Sri Lankan government said Thursday that there are no moves to change plans to hold the proposed direct talks with the Tamil Tigers despite flaring up of military clashes in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

"There is no change to plans. The agreement to hold talks on Oct. 28 and 29 will not change," Anura Yapa, the government spokesman told reporters.

Heavy battles erupted in the northern Jaffna peninsula on Wednesday just a day after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) rebels told the Norwegian peace facilitators that they were in agreement with the government proposal to hold talks in Switzerland.

The Army said 43 soldiers were killed and 224 others were injured in the battle which began in the early hours of Wednesday where the rebels blamed the military of breaching the defense lines at Muhamalai in Jaffna.

The battle quietened down on Thursday with sporadic artillery and mortar exchanges between the two sides, officials said.

The government maintained it was a pure retaliatory action and not a new military offensive.

The government troops which recorded a series of victories against the rebels since late July had clearly suffered a reversal, the analysts noted, saying that the overall casualty toll was higher than projected.

Despite opting for talks, the government maintained that they reserved the right to go ahead with its military action in order to safeguard national security.

The LTTE rebels have been fighting over two decades to secure a separate homeland for the minority Tamil community in the north and east, claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority Sinhala community.

More than 64,000 people were killed in the island country's separatist armed conflict between the mid-1980s and February 2002 when the ongoing Norwegian backed ceasefire came into effect.

Source: Xinhua