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Colombo (Agencies) Sri Lanka's government denied it agreed to unconditional peace talks with ethnic Tamil rebels, casting doubt on a possible meeting next month in Norway announced by the European Union.
Diplomatic efforts to return the two sides to a faltering peace process came amid some of the heaviest fighting since a 2002 cease-fire that has threatened to return the country to all-out war.
"We got today the expression of willingness, we got signals from the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE(Tamil Tigers), to come to talks unconditionally," Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner said on Tuesday, on behalf of Sri Lanka's international backers - the EU, Japan, the United States and Norway.
She said the meeting could take place in October in Oslo.
Sri Lanka's government, speaking hours later, however, denied it had agreed to talks without preconditions.
"We will put forward our conditions," government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said.
Rambukwella also criticised peace broker Norway for announcing a date and a venue without having firstconsulted the government.
"We will take it up very seriously, we are a sovereign state, they (Norway) are only facilitators. We have not delegated any of our powers to them," Rambukwella said.
The LTTE pulled out of peace talks indefinitely in April and a new bout of fighting erupted in July, killing hundreds of troops, civilians and rebels in the worst violence since a 2002 ceasefire.
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