Curfew after Sri Lanka air raids

Roads to the north-east are being heavily patrolled

A night-time curfew has been imposed on the town of Trincomalee in Sri Lanka, after government air strikes aimed at Tamil Tiger rebels in nearby territory.

Peace monitors have travelled to the town in a desperate bid to save a truce weakened by a bomb attack on an army base and Colombo's retaliation for it.

The Tamil rebels said tens of thousands had fled "genocidal" air strikes - but that figure has not been confirmed.

Crossings between government and rebel zones in the north have been re-opened.

There have been no new government attacks since the air strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Analysts say there is a possibility the island can avoid a return to civil war if the situation remains largely calm.

We are working with the parties on an hour-to-hour basis to do whatever possible to bring them back to the negotiating table Erik Solheim Peace mediator

There were several small incidents in the north of the country on Thursday - three soldiers were killed in a mine blast near Jaffna and another mine explosion killed two sailors.

A government military spokesman said after the Jaffna blast that it would not provoke fresh air attacks on rebel positions.

'Glimmer of hope'

The International Red Cross has been assessing the area where air strikes took place on Tuesday and Wednesday.

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They pulled out two civilians who were seriously injured.

A spokesman said it was impossible to say how many people had fled the air strikes and how many people had now returned, given that there had been no resumption of aerial bombing.

BBC correspondent Soutik Biswas has reached Trincomalee, in north-eastern Sri Lanka, after a 270km (170 mile) journey from Colombo on a road with little traffic but a heavy military presence.

He said the situation in the town was calm.

An overnight curfew has been enforced from 2000 to 0400 hours local time.

Our correspondent says most of the air strikes took place in the coastal areas off the Koddiyar Bay area in Trincomalee.

There have been no fresh government attacks in Trincomalee

The Muthur division, which has both government and Tiger-held areas, was worst hit.

Truce monitors earlier travelled to Trincomalee to try to ease the tension.

The head of the international truce monitoring team, Ulf Henricsson, is also planning to visit the area.

The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Colombo says the monitors believe the break in violence offers a glimmer of hope.

The leading peace mediator, Norway's International Development Minister Erik Solheim, said from Oslo he did not believe the violence signalled an end to the February 2002 ceasefire.

"We are working with the parties on an hour-to-hour basis to do whatever possible to bring them back to the negotiating table," he said.

Colombo attack

The Tigers say more than 12 civilians were killed in the air strikes - the first official military action since the truce agreed in 2002 - but the government denies civilians were targeted.

At least eight people were killed in the attack on army headquarters

The Tigers expressed "distress and dissatisfaction" at the international community's "absence of concern" over the attacks.

The strikes were called after a suicide bombing on army headquarters in Colombo on Tuesday left at least eight dead and the army chief seriously wounded.

The Colombo bombing was apparently carried out by a woman who made herself appear heavily pregnant to conceal explosives.

The rebels have denied being behind recent bomb attacks, although experts believe the Colombo bombing bears all the hallmarks of the Tigers.

The Tigers began their armed campaign for a separate homeland for the island's Tamil minority in the north and east in the 1970s. More than 64,000 people have died in the conflict.

The rebels last week pulled out of peace negotiations in Geneva, accusing the government of attacks on ethnic Tamil civilians.