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Lankan peace talks delayed

COLOMBO: Talks between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels are not expected at least until May because the guerrillas' main negotiator is unwell, the Sunday Times said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had told Norway, which is brokering the talks, there was no substitute for the chief negotiator, Anton Balasingham, the paper said.

Balasingham, who escaped from Sri Lanka's war-torn northern Wanni region last year, is undergoing treatment in London for an unspecified illness.

The LTTE have been fighting for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in Sri Lanka's north and east since 1983. Nearly 60,000 people have been killed in the war.-Reuters

MP escapes attack

A junior Sri Lankan minister escaped with only minor injuries when two grenades were lobbed at him, officials said on Sunday.

They said Shantha Premaratne, deputy minister for plan implementation and parliamentary affairs, jumped into a ditch when the first grenade was thrown as he left a temple in the northcentral town of Mihintale, 254 km (155 miles) from the capital Colombo, on Saturday.

A second grenade hurled by one of two unidentified men failed to explode.

The minister had been on his way to attend a meeting of the district cricket association to contest for the post of president.

No other details were immediately available.-Reuters