April 24, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-us-Sani 06, 1428

COLOMBO, April 23: A scheduled meeting between the Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka and the LTTE leadership was cancelled on Monday as the military launched fresh artillery attacks on newly-identified guerilla targets in the north and east.

A Norwegian Embassy spokesman when contacted said the visit to rebel-controlled Killinochchi by the Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar was postponed following government advice against the trip.

The much-anticipated meeting had raised hopes of a possible revival of Sri Lanka’s peace process.

However, analysts say the cancellation of the meeting has wiped out immediate chances of the two warring sides approaching the discussion table.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Air force bombed specified rebel-controlled territory in northern Jaffna and eastern Batticaloa on Monday afternoon, a government statement said. “An LTTE strategic sea Tiger base shattered into rubbles following air strikes, at Thalaiaddi south of Nagarkovil in Jaffna,” the government Media Centre for National Security stated.

Military officials said separate air raids had been carried out in the eastern Batticaloa district targeting an LTTE base where a group of Tiger cadres had gathered. The government did not tell number of rebel casualties.

The Tamil Tiger rebels did not publicise details of the attacks but claimed that the army had moved over 2,000 heavily-armed military personnel towards the Forward Defence Line along the Northern Front.