The Sri Lankan government said Tuesday that it would urge the international community to take action to gain serious commitment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for negotiations.

Keheliya Rambukwella, the government's defense spokesman, told reporters "the Co-chairs (the United States, Japan, the European Union and Norway) will be asked to obtain a firm commitment from the LTTE that they would uphold the cease-fire and they would not be making attempts to purchase arms and ammunition during the time of peace talks."

Rambukwella, who is also the minister of Policy Planning, said the commitment must necessarily come from the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran himself and the government should have the right to engage the Tigers military during the talks if the LTTE resorts to violence.

The minister said the rebels had been bringing surface to air missiles and artillery in the vessel destroyed by the troops in the sea waters off the eastern coast on Sunday.

The Navy spokesman Commander D. K. P. Dassanayake said the suspected vessel was sunk about 120 nautical miles (about 220 km) of the Eastern Province town of Kalmunai and the sea bed there had a depth of over three km making it impossible for the investigators to salvage the wreck for investigations.

He said the vessel may have been originated from Indonesian waters and an investigation was underway.

The incident came after the Norwegian peace brokers said earlier this month that the two parties had agreed unconditionally to hold talks in the Norwegian capital Oslo.

The government subsequently denied such arrangements and accused the Norwegian Minister for International Development Erik Solheim of making an unilateral statement.

More than 64,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the mid-1980s. The Norwegian efforts to revive the direct talks stalled since March 2003 have been hit by the new upsurge of violence since the end of 2005.

Source: Xinhua