Japan is willing to host direct talks between Sri Lanka?s government and Tamil Tigers to revive a flagging peace process, a Japanese envoy said yesterday, as suspected rebels launched several attacks across the island.

A string of lethal strikes on troops in the last week has put a 2002 truce under greater strain than ever before. Recent attempts to arrange meetings have failed after the two sides refused to agree a venue ? the Tigers wanting to go abroad and the government wanting to hold it between the two front lines. ?The government has told me that it is willing to make a concession and hold negotiations outside the country, preferably somewhere in Asia,? peace envoy Yasushi Akashi told reporters in Colombo. ?Japan is ready to host such direct negotiations provided of course the two parties are agreeable to it.?

The Tigers warn that time is running out and that without a political deal during 2006 they will return to war. Sri Lanka?s army says it does not expect conflict, but is ready. Two claymore mine attacks on patrols in the northern government-held Jaffna enclave last week ? the largest incidents since the ceasefire ? killed 14 troops and sent the stock market plunging as fears of a return to war rose.

The army said suspected Tigers launched another attack yesterday on a bus of policemen going on leave from the restive east, but missed the vehicle and caused no casualties.