COLOMBO, Aug 12: The Sri Lankan government said on Thursday it had protested against an alleged Tamil Tiger military build-up around a strategic port following guerrilla warnings of a possible return to war.

Government spokesman Mangala Samaraweera said they had lodged a formal complaint with the Norwegian-led team monitoring an Oslo-brokered truce which has been in place since February 2002.

"There have been reports of the Tigers setting up new bunkers near the Trincomalee harbour area," Samaraweera told reporters here. He said the move by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) undermined efforts to bring a political end to the island's long-running ethnic conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.

Samaraweera said the government was also concerned about a spate of political assassinations allegedly carried out by the Tamil Tigers in recent weeks in a bid to eliminate rivals.

He said the killings, coupled with the alleged Tiger military build-up in the island's east, were undermining Norway's efforts to help revive stalled peace negotiations between the two sides.

There was no immediate comment from the Tigers. The government lodged its complaint with the Scandinavian-run Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and was awaiting a ruling. The mission rules on truce violations, but has no powers to impose punitive action against offenders.

Samaraweera said despite the tension, they were keen to revive the peace negotiations which have been on hold since April last year. "If we can sit across the table, most of these problems can be resolved," he said.

His remarks came after the Tigers warned last week the country could slip back to war and accused the military of supporting a renegade Tiger leader to divide the rebel movement.

The government has denied giving any backing to breakaway Tiger leader, V. Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, who went underground in April following a major Tiger onslaught against him. -AFP