FIFTEEN Tamil civilians working for a French aid agency were found slain in north-eastern Sri Lanka after fierce battles between rebels and the government over water supplies, relief agency officials said yesterday.

SRI LANKA’S Tamil Tiger rebels yesterday agreed to lift a two-week-old water blockade on government-held villages that has provoked some of the fiercest fighting in years.

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.

Heavy fighting broke out in northeastern Sri Lanka today between Tamil rebels and government troops seeking to end a rebel blockade of a reservoir, and at least five soldiers were killed, officials said.

Sri Lanka’s government said today it has no plans to withdraw from its ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels despite a regional Tiger leader declaring the accord dead because of air and artillery assaults on rebel territory.

A suicide bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up next to a car carrying a top Sri Lankan general today, killing the third-highest ranking officer in the military and three other people.

Sri Lankan air force jets and artillery pounded Tamil Tiger rebel positions in the country’s north and east for a second day today, peace monitors said ahead of a mass funeral for 64 people killed a bus bombing blamed on the insurgents.

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 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.

Sri Lanka reopened roads linking government and Tamil Tiger rebel-held territory today after two days of airstrikes against guerrilla areas ended, but the threat of a return to civil war remained amid continuing bloodshed.

Mine explosions killed five government military personnel today, and police found five decapitated bodies dumped in a rubber plantation, as violence that has pushed Sri Lanka to the brink of civil war showed no signs of letting up.

SRI LANKA’S military unleashed airstrikes and mortar attacks yesterday at areas controlled by Tamil Tiger insurgents, who said that 15,000 people had fled the second day of violence sparked by a suspected rebel suicide bombing.