Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers said Monday that they will attend next month's talks in the Norwegian capital of Oslo to discuss the issues concerning the international truce monitoring group observing the four-year-old ceasefire.

Daya Master, the media spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) told reporters in the rebel held northern town of Kilinochchi that the group's leadership had decided to attend the talks scheduled for June 8-9 in Oslo.

The LTTE's political wing head, S. P. Thamilselvan was also quoted by Tamil language website Nitharsanam.com as saying that the LTTE has "decided to attend the proposed talks in Oslo next month to discuss the functions and operations of the SLMM (Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission)."

Jon Hanssen-Bauer, the Norwegian special peace envoy on Saturday announced that Norway had invited the government, the LTTE and the SLMM to attend talks to discuss issues relating to the functions and operations of the SLMM.

Of late friction has surfaced between the SLMM and the LTTE, as well as the SLMM and the government.

A fortnight ago the SLMM said that it was suspending its naval monitoring operations in the northeast seas after the May 11 incident during which the LTTE was accused of making an attempt to attack a Sri Lankan naval vessel carrying over 700 troops.

The SLMM claimed that the LTTE has endangered the lives of the truce monitors who were on board of the naval troop carrier vessel at the time.

The SLMM said that it had decided to "forward some requirements to the parties before the resumption of naval monitoring can take place."

The Minister of Policy Planning and the government's defense spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said that the decision "is under consideration."

The rebel decision to attend Oslo has come in the wake of their refusal to attend the second round of Geneva talks on the implementation of the ongoing Norwegian backed truce which ought to have taken place in late April.

Source: Xinhua