Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels rammed an explosives-laden fishing boat into a Sri Lankan navy vessel off the north-western coast early today, killing at least 15 sailors and leaving three missing, officials said.

Tamil Tiger rebels have agreed to resume talks with the Sri Lankan government to review the country’s fragile cease-fire, the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo and a rebel spokesman said today.

The Sri Lankan government today asked parliament to extend an emergency rule decree imposed after the assassination of the country’s foreign minister by suspected Tamil rebels, as European peace monitors held talks with guerrilla leaders.

WITH Sri Lanka’s foreign minister dead and the country under emergency rule, there is growing fear among the island’s minority Tamils that they may once again be targeted by security forces fighting Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sri Lanka’s government said today it will not unilaterally violate a ceasefire with the Tamil Tiger rebels, but would do everything necessary to safeguard its citizens after the military accused the rebels of assassinating the country’s foreign minister.

Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga declared a state of emergency today, hours after her foreign minister, an ethnic Tamil who led efforts to ban the Tamil Tiger rebels as a terrorist organisation, was assassinated at his home.

Sri Lanka’s foreign minister was shot dead by one or two snipers near his home in the capital Colombo today, officials said.

The death toll from epic tidal waves that rocked 11 countries rose to 40,000 people today after Sri Lanka and Indonesia significantly increased their confirmed deaths.

Sri Lanka is to offer to buy the debris of the giant statues of Buddha destroyed by Afghanistan's Taliban regime and rebuild them there.

The Sri Lankan government wants Britain to include the Tamil Tigers included on a list of banned terrorist organisations.