Colombo: A Japanese envoy was to meet with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Monday in an effort to stem a surge of violence that has pushed the island nation back to the brink of civil war.
Envoy Yasushi Akashi and Rajapakse were expected to discuss a way to bring the Tamil Tiger rebels back to peace talks in Geneva after the guerrillas last month refused to participate.
The visit marks Akashi's 12th to Sri Lanka since Tokyo named him as its envoy in October 2002.
Akashi's schedule for Tuesday has been kept free for a possible trip to Kilinochchi, the rebel stronghold in the north.
It was not immediately clear if he would go to meet with the rebels' political chief and other junior officials after top leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran declined to meet him.
A rash of fighting between the rebels and government forces in recent weeks has threatened to reignite a decades-long civil war in Sri Lanka that cost 65,000 lives before a cease-fire brought a brief respite to the bloodshed in 2002.
In the latest violence, the rebels said eight Tamil men were abducted after being shot in a Hindu temple in the country's predominantly Tamil Jaffna city on Saturday. The rebels blamed the Sri Lankan army for the incident, which the military denied.
The Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam said on their Web site that the men, who were sleeping in the temple, had gone missing.
The army's Media Unit in Colombo denied any involvement and there was no independent confirmation of the reported incident, but Sri Lankan authorities clamped down on Jaffna by imposing a curfew Monday aimed at thwarting anti-government demonstrations.
Police imposed the restrictions after pro-rebel groups said they would hold demonstrations against the alleged killings and abductions.
The curfew is restricted to Jaffna, northern Sri Lanka's biggest city, and will not affect areas in the rebel-stronghold of Kilinochchi, where the rebels meet with foreign dignitaries.
Earlier the same day suspected rebels fired mortars and guns at a government military camp in the east to push the military back and take new territory, the military said. No casualties were reported.
Intermittent firing came from a rebel-held area and was directed at the camp in Batticaloa district, 220 kilometers (140 miles) east of the capital, Colombo, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.
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