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Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels agreed to attend peace talks with the government this month in a breakthrough announcement after a week of bloody attacks left over 250 dead.
The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) told Norwegian peace broker Jon Hanssen-Bauer they will shortly name a team of negotiators to attend the October 28-29 talks in Switzerland.
“We will attend the talks,” Thamilselvan told reporters in the rebel-held town of Kilinochchi, 330 kilometers (206 miles) north of the capital, after talks with Hanssen-Bauer who arrived Tuesday amid uncertainty over the talks.
“We are going for talks in deference to the wishes of the international community,” Thamilselvan said according to a transcript of the news conference obtained by AFP.
There was no immediate word from the Norwegians, but the announcement came after increased international pressure on Colombo and the Tigers to enter talks and save a collapsing ceasefire.
The government, which has maintained it would hold talks unconditionally, also gave no immediate comment.
The rebel statement follows days of negotiations via Norway's envoys punctuated by devastating acts of violence.
On Wednesday, two people were killed and 26 wounded in a rebel suicide attack on a naval facility in this southern coastal town, a popular tourist destination.
The Tigers reportedly used a group of 15 guerrillas and four bodies, believed to be those of the suicide bombers, washed ashore here Thursday.
Two days earlier the Tigers staged their deadliest suicide bombing in the history of the conflict, killing at least 115 people by driving a truck packed with explosives into a large group of sailors in the Trincomalee district.
And on October 11, at least 133 soldiers were killed in an assault on rebel territory on the northern peninsula of Jaffna.
Fearing further violence, police and troops stepped up security in Galle on Thursday while similar measures were also taken elsewhere.
Troop reinforcements poured into the area and military patrols were stepped up, even as a night curfew was eased early Thursday, local police chief Keerthi de Silva said.
He said 11 people had been detained for questioning after breaking the curfew and for possible involvement with the bombing in Galle. Police said they believed four or five Tigers may have escaped after the attack.
The security boost in Galle came amid fears of inter-communal tensions, the officer said, adding that police opened fire and wounded three men Wednesday to prevent rioting between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils.
De Silva said more troops had also been deployed to Tamil areas to prevent a repeat of the rioting the day before.
The move also came as police defused a Claymore mine in a key town just outside the capital Colombo Thursday.
The mine was discovered in a pile of garbage, the ministry said in a statement.
The bomb, packed with ball bearings, was found at Kadawatha, a sizeable town about 15 kilometres from Colombo.
The police were alerted by a civilian, the ministry said.
The United States has warned its citizens against travelling to Galle in the wake of the attack. Australia asked its nationals not to visit Sri Lanka because of the security situation.
The Tigers have made no comment on the Galle attack, but said war planes bombed rebel territory in the island's restive east early Wednesday, killing a woman and wounding two more civilians.
The rebels last hit the Galle port area in December 1997, when they detonated a truck bomb that was targeting the navy commander at the time.
Sri Lanka's military has used Galle harbour to import arms and ammunition for security forces following threats to the bigger port of Colombo, which is a container hub for South Asia.
It is also a popular tourist spot, known as Sri Lanka's “Riviera” for its high-end hotels and pristine beaches. Hotel owners Thursday said they feared for the tourism industry in the wake of the bombing.
The three decades of ethnic bloodshed in the tropical island nation have claimed more than 60,000 lives.
