The Sri Lankan government said Friday that it was not contemplating action to ban the Tamil Tigers despite the rebels being blamed for two separate bomb attacks in the capital Colombo.
Keheliya Rambukwella, the minister of Foreign Employment and the government's defense spokesman, told reporters that "we are not contemplating a ban and we want to keep doors open for peace."
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been charged of exploding two bombs on Wednesday which killed 21 people and injured over 40 others.
One of the attacks was targeting Douglas Devananda, an anti-rebel Tamil politician and a government minister.
Rambukwella said the government's military thrust against the rebels have been a success.
"We have completed 75 percent of our difficult journey and now we are in the vicinity of Kilinochchi (the rebel headquarters in the north)," Rambukwella said.
The government claimed that the rebels are now employing tactics to hurt civilians in desperation as they now fear complete annihilation by government troops.
Police spokesman Jayantha Wickramarathna said that additional 500 policemen have been deployed in Colombo to face the threat from Tamil rebels.
More than 5000 people have been killed in the upsurge of violence since the end of 2005, making the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement exist only on paper.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhala majority, the LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to establish a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east.
Source:Xinhua
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