Sri Lanka's day of death and demonstrations

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- Waves of Tamil Tiger rebels have attacked two army camps as violence in Sri Lanka continues to escalate. At least eight soldiers and seven rebels have been killed.

The government was being tested on the political front as well Thursday with Opposition parties set to defy a demonstration ban.

These would be the first major protests since police used tear gas and live ammunition in a crackdown last month that left two dead and more than 80 wounded.

Increasingly ferocious attacks this week by guerrillas have lifted the death toll in Sri Lanka's bloody civil war that has seen 64,000 die over 18 years.

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In the east, soldiers beat back the rebels with the help of the navy after attacks on the Janakapura and Kokkutudu Wai camps in the Welioya area, 240 km (150 miles) east of Colombo.

"There was very heavy fighting but so far all attempts to overun the camps have been repulsed," military spokesman Brigadier Sanath Karunaratne told Reuters.

On Wednesday an explosion hit a civilian bus on a highway near the port city of Trincomalee, injuring at least 12 people.

On Tuesday rebels attacked a police station in Ampara, eastern Sri Lanka.

At least 23 people died in the battle as government troops fought off the assault.

It was the guerrillas' first major operation since they attacked the country's only international airport and an adjoining air base near Colombo on July 24.

The Tigers said they attacked the station to mark the alleged gang rape of a Tamil woman by policemen in the area four years ago.

"The attack on the Sri Lanka police detachment was carried out to mark the death of Koneswary Murugesapillai," the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was quoted as saying on the pro-rebel website www.tamilnet.com.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are fighting to carve out a separate homeland in Sri Lanka's north and east.

Power-sharing deal

Opposition parties plan marches on Colombo Thursday to protest the suspension of parliament despite an invitation by the embattled minority government to begin talks on a power-sharing deal.

"We will proceed with the marches, there's no question about it," said a senior official of the main opposition United National Party (UNP).

A government statement reiterated that the ban was still in place and appealed to the UNP to call off the protest.

"The government again wishes to point out the importance of maintaining national security and urges the UNP to refrain from marches and protests," the statement said.

Consitutional reforms

Protest marches in the city were banned the day before last month's demonstrations on grounds that they were designed to influence the outcome of an October 18 referendum on widely criticized constitutional reforms.

The UNP was also expected to respond coolly to an invitation by Prime Minster Ratnasiri Wickremanayake to begin official talks on a coalition government.

"We will stress that the referendum must be cancelled and parliament reconvened before such talks," said the UNP official, adding that the party would make a formal response Thursday.

Wickremanayake appealed on Tuesday to UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to begin talks on forming a government of national reconciliation and ending the country's long ethnic war.

The invitation marked a departure from the backroom manoeuvres that have characterised President Chandrika Kumaratunga's previous attempts at cobbling together a coalition, all of which have ended in failure.

Reuters contributed to this report.