A sea battle launched by Tamil Tiger rebels in northern Sri Lanka has left about 50 insurgents and 17 sailors dead or missing, in a sharp escalation of violence that shoved the country back onto brink of civil war today.

A faction of Tamil insurgents attacked rival Tamil Tiger rebels in eastern Sri Lanka today, killing at least one person.

Envoys from Asia and Europe met Tamil Tiger rebels’ top political leader today, expressing concern that growing violence was threatening to shatter the country’s cease-fire, officials and the rebels said.

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels ambushed a naval convoy in north-western Sri Lanka today, killing 13 sailors and injuring at least two others, the navy 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.

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 Lankan security forces went on red alert today, military officials said, securing a supply corridor into the restive east following a surge in attacks blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels that have endangered the country’s shaky cease-fire.