Tamil Tiger rebels today said they had appealed to Norway for help in getting food and other essentials to 42,000 civilians trapped in fighting between the insurgents and Sri Lankan government forces.

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.

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.

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.