Sri Lanka’s military officials say their soldiers have entered the Tamil Tiger rebels’ de facto capital in the north for the first time in a decade.

A rebel-affiliated website said today a pre-emptive strike against Sri Lankan troops killed 60 soldiers close to the Tamil Tigers northern headquarters.

Sri Lanka’s navy sank a Tamil Tiger ship and four smaller attack boats in a battle that killed 20 rebels off the north-eastern coast early today, the army said.

A bomb blast blamed on separatist Tamil Tigers wounded 45 people in Sri Lanka’s capital today.

A BOMB ripped through part of a packed passenger train during evening rush hour yesterday, killing eight people and wounding 70 others near the Sri Lankan capital.

A bomb blamed on Tamil Tiger separatists ripped through a packed passenger train today killing seven people and wounding 70 others near the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo.

SRI LANKA’S elusive Tamil rebel supremo was wounded in an air strike last month by security forces shortly after his annual policy broadcast, a privately run newspaper reported yesterday.

Government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels clashed AGAIN in northern Sri Lanka today, as Britain suspended some aid payments to the country amid the intensified fighting.

Tamil rebel planes bombed government military positions in northern Sri Lanka today in their second airstrike.

A Sri Lankan air force raid on a Tamil rebel training base in the island’s north may have killed or wounded as many as 70 guerrillas, the Defence Ministry said today.

Tamil rebels launched their first-ever airstrike in their 25-year conflict with Sri Lanka’s government, using at least one small plane to bomb an air base outside the capital Colombo today.

Commandos overran a Tamil Tiger rebel base in eastern Sri Lanka today, killing at least 20 guerrillas in fighting that also left three commandos dead, the military said.

Sri Lankan officials today said commandoes had found torture chambers at a captured rebel base, but the separatists said the cement cells were for holding prisoners and denied any torture had taken place.

Sri Lankan officials today said anti-terrorist commandoes had found torture chambers at a captured rebel base, alleging the insurgents used the cement cells to punish informers and people who tried escape their ranks.

Sri Lanka’s air force said it bombed a Tamil Tiger rebel naval base in the country’s north-west today, but a guerrilla spokesman claimed the air raid killed 15 civilians in a fishing village.

The Sri Lankan government today accused the Tamil Tiger rebels of abducting 455 underage combatants from government-controlled areas this year and asked the insurgents to stop the practice.

About 3,000 Tamil civilians braved flooded, mine-laden jungle paths to flee from separatist fighting into government-held areas in eastern Sri Lanka today, officials and witnesses said.

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels have not quit a truce despite calling it “defunct,” European ceasefire monitors said today, as the government called for renewed peace talks.

Tamil Tiger rebels attacked Sri Lankan troops with heavy artillery today, the military said, a day after the top Tamil Tiger leader declared a 2002 ceasefire “defunct,” suggesting the insurgents would renew their violent struggle for an independent Tamil homeland.

The Sri Lankan military, backed by tanks and war planes, battled Tamil Tiger rebels for over three hours today for control of territory in the east, a military spokesman said, a further escalation of violence in the country’s undeclared civil war.

Sri Lankan warplanes carried out airstrikes today around the northern town of Kilinochchi, deep inside rebel-held territory where Tamil Tiger insurgents have their headquarters, a rebel official said.

AT least 45 Tamils were killed and 125 wounded yesterday when government forces fired artillery and rocket launchers toward a Tamil Tiger rebel-held region in eastern Sri Lanka, a senior rebel official said.

At least 45 Tamils were killed and 125 wounded today when government forces fired artillery and rocket launchers toward a Tamil Tiger rebel-held region in eastern Sri Lanka, a senior rebel official said.

Sri Lankan air force jets bombed the Tamil rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi today, killing at least four people, a spokesman for the rebel group said.

Tamil rebel negotiators today left their northern stronghold for peace talks with the government, after Sri Lanka’s main political parties pledged to co-operate to settle the country’s renewed conflict.

Sri Lankan fighter jets pounded Tamil Tiger positions on besieged Jaffna peninsula today.

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.

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.

Martin McGuinness today urged the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels to prevent the island nation from slipping back to full-scale civil war, his party said.

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's air force today launched a second day of strikes on Tamil Tiger rebel positions in the country’s north, a day after a bus bombing blamed on the rebels killed 64 people.

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 top Japanese peace envoy said today he would travel to northern Sri Lanka to confer with Tamil Tiger rebels despite reports that the insurgents’ chief has rejected any meeting with the envoy.

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.

SRI LANKA’S president and the leader of Tamil Tiger rebels agreed yesterday to resume peace talks, raising hopes the tsunami-ravaged island nation may avoid sliding back into civil war after months of escalating violence.

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels said today they have agreed to hold talks with the government in Switzerland in February, raising hopes that the country may avoid sliding back to war.

Norwegian envoy Eric Solheim arrived in northern Sri Lanka for crucial talks with the reclusive leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels today, amid fears the island could return to civil war after four years of relative calm.

Sri Lanka’s president today asked Norway’s peace envoy to set up new talks with Tamil rebels in hopes of staving off a civil war, but the separatists continued to brace for a possible return to battle

Sri Lanka’s president and a top Norwegian peace envoy are meeting today in a desperate attempt to prevent the nation’s slide back into civil war as separatist rebels prepared for a possible return to the battlefield.

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a pro-rebel legislator as he attended midnight Mass at a church in eastern Sri Lanka, the Defence Ministry said today, sparking fears of a return to civil war in the island nation.

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.