The Ceylon News

Sri Lanka's temporary truce with the Tamil Tigers began Monday to mark the Sinhala and Tamil New Year even as the rebels killed a soldier in a sniper attack, the military said.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired a mortar wounding one soldier and killing another in a sniper attack in Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaitivu district.

"Other than this, things are smooth in the battle area," he said, stressing that all the offensive operations by the troops had been halted.

Confident of defeating the LTTE militarily, President Mahinda Rajapaksa Sunday ordered his troops to strictly adhere to "defensive operations" against the Tigers during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year Tuesday.

Announcing the temporary truce, Rajapaksa urged the LTTE, cornered in a 14 sq km coastal strip, should make use of the temporary truce to free thousands of civilians under its control in the north-eastern Mullaitivu district.

Rajapaksa, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, said it was time for the LTTE "to acknowledge its military defeat and lay down its weapons and surrender" to the armed forces to avoid a facing a complete rout.

The declaration of a pause in the fight-to-finish campaign against the LTTE came amid mounting international concern for the safety of thousands of civilians trapped in a small strip of coastal land in the island's north-eastern Mullaitivu district.

The UN last week said that over 100,000 civilians were "trapped in the 14 sq km no-fire zone". Sri Lanka's donor Co-Chairs comprising the US, the EU, Japan and Norway stressed "the importance of a humanitarian pause" in the fighting to ensure the safety of the civilians in the war-zone.

There has been no response from the LTTE regarding the unilateral halt in fighting by the government.

Six people, including two children, were shot dead on Sunday by the Tamil Tigers in southern Sri Lanka in an attack apparently aimed at avenging military operations against them, the military said.

The LTTE cadres attacked farmers in Mahagodayaya village in Buttala region in the country's south, killing six -- two of them children, officials said.

The attack was an apparent revenge attack for the military offensive against them in the northern part of the country, they said.

The Tigers have been cornered by the Sri Lankan security forces in a 20 square km area, packed with civilians, in the country's north east.

Sri Lankan government today ordered troops to halt their offensive against the LTTE for two days in view of the Tamil and Sinhala New Year to allow trapped civilians to escape the war zone, amidst reports that Tiger supremo V Prabhakaran has apparently agreed to a rescue mission by a western country.

Sri Lanka's forces are on orders only to take defensive action if necessary

A temporary 48-hour ceasefire seems to be holding in north-east Sri Lanka.

The army says that its troops have halted offensive operations and have not come under fire from the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The truce which came into effect at midnight (1830 GMT Sunday) is meant to allow civilians to leave the conflict zone safely.

Pro-rebel sources said the truce was an "insult" and the aim was "imprisonment of civilians by the state".

The UN has welcomed the pause as a chance to help civilians and deliver aid.

Sri Lanka's authorities have been under growing international pressure to allow time for tens of thousands of trapped civilians to leave the war zone safely, the BBC's Anbarasan Ethirajan reports from the capital, Colombo.

The military says it has captured the entire Tamil Tiger-held territory in the north and pushed the rebels into a government-designated safe zone for civilians.

'A good first step'

Sri Lankan troops fighting the Tamil Tigers have been told to fire only if attacked.

A military spokesman told the BBC there had been no reports of any major clashes since the truce was called.

But he said only a handful of civilians had left the safe zone on Monday morning.

Our correspondent says it is unclear what the government's next move will be after the end of the two-day period.

The defence ministry says security forces have surrounded the no-fire zone on all three sides and troops are poised to enter the area to rescue civilians.

The pro-rebel TamilNet web site said the government's move was "a mockery of a ceasefire".

"The insulting 'festival diplomacy' announcement of [President Mahinda] Rajapaksa was aiming for the imprisonment of civilians by the state," it said, adding that the army wanted the "complete surrender of the Tigers".

"Rajapaksa knows very well that none of his expectations will take place," the web site said.

President Rajapaksa had called the truce after a cabinet meeting.

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama told the BBC that government forces would not engage in any offensive operations during the two-day Sinhala and Tamil New Year period.

UN humanitarian envoy John Holmes told the BBC he hoped the truce would mean more aid being allowed into the conflict zone.

He hoped the Tigers would allow "people a free choice about whether they leave the area or not, which is crucial because the civilians are suffering so much in that zone".

"We would have liked a longer pause than this, a genuine humanitarian pause of a longer period than two days but this is a good first step," he added.

Thousands of people, mostly Tamils, have been protesting in Western capitals to demand a full ceasefire.

Demonstrators occupied the Sri Lankan embassy in Oslo for a brief time on Sunday, Norwegian police said.

The government later apologised for failing to stop the crowd, put at about 100.

The Sri Lankan ambassador to Norway Esala Weerakoon told the BBC that a group of people stormed into the embassy building and destroyed office furniture and computers.

Tamil protesters have been agitating in front of Norwegian parliament for the past few days demanding an immediate cease fire in Sri Lanka.

Since it is a holiday no staff was there on duty. Sri Lankan embassy has lodged a complaint with the police.

The police are reproted to have arrested one suspect but no more details were available, the ambassador said.

The envoy felt this attack could have been prevented if the authorities enhanced security of the embassy.

"We would not have allowed this to happen to Norwegian embassy in Colombo," Mr. Weerakoon told BBC Sandeshaya.