January 26, 2006	Thursday	Zilhaj 25, 1426

KILLINOCHCHI, Jan 25: The Tamil Tigers on Wednesday agreed to hold talks with the Sri Lankan government in Geneva next month, saying the party had decided to give the newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse ‘another opportunity’ to take up the peace process.

The decision was announced after a meeting between a Norwegian peace envoy and LTTE chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran in the rebel-controlled Killinochchi region.

The Tigers’ chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, told reporters following the meeting that the talks would be limited to the implementation of the ceasefire signed agreement in Feb 2002.

Blaming the government for a spate of violence in the northeast, he dismissed accusations that the LTTE was responsible for the killing of over One hundred military personnel in the past one month.