COLOMBO, Jan 2: The Sri Lankan government unanimously decided on Wednesday evening to formally withdraw from the ceasefire with the Tamil Tiger rebels, which existed only on paper for the past two years, government defence spokesperson Minister Keheliye Rambukwella told Dawn.

The decision came after yet another bomb blast went off in the Capital killing five and injuring over 28.

Mr Rambukwella said Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake had proposed to the Cabinet to annul the truce and that all ministers had agreed without argument.

The ceasefire agreement was signed in February 2002 under the initiation of Ranil Wickremesinghe soon after he was elected as prime minister under the United National Party regime.

Norway which functioned as facilitator in the peace process for the past six years is to be shortly informed of the government’s decision to end the ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Presidential spokesman Chandrapala Liyanage told AFP: “The cabinet of ministers today decided to pull out of the ceasefire. The legal process will now kick in.”

Under the ceasefire, both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers were given the option to pull out after giving two weeks’ written notice to the Norwegian foreign minister.