The Sri Lankan military said today that its forces thwarted a major Tamil Tiger rebel attack on a strategic jetty in Muttur, killing 35 insurgents, as a Norwegian peace envoy travelled to the northern rebel heartland in an effort to prevent the country from sliding back into full-blown civil war.

THOUSANDS of civilians fled clashes between soldiers and Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka yesterday, and at least five were killed by artillery fire.

Dozens of Tamil Tiger rebels infiltrated a small, government-held town during fierce fighting in northeastern Sri Lanka, and soldiers were trying to flush them out, a government spokesman said today.

Sri Lanka said today that Norwegian envoys will meet government and Tamil rebel leaders this week to try to revive the country’s peace process, amid spiralling violence and recriminations between the sides.

A Norwegian peace envoy was to visit Sri Lanka today amid efforts to encourage the Tamil Tiger rebels to attend peace talks with the Sri Lankan government in Geneva next week.

The Tamil Tiger rebels said today that the Sri Lankan government has failed to honour a pledge made at peace talks in Geneva earlier this year to disarm paramilitary groups.