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India, Sri Lanka talks underway amid Jaffna fighting: AFP

External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh was to continue talks with President Chandrika Kumaratunga and other senior politicians here Monday, as fighting between troops and Tamil separatists continued in the Jaffna peninsula, officials here said.

Singh and Kumaratunga, who held informal discussions over dinner Sunday, were to hold official talks "without a structured agenda," the officials said.

His arrival here comes three days after Indian Premier Atal Behari Vajpayee forged a political consensus over the Sri Lankan crisis, after Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi suggested splitting the island to end its ethnic strife.

Even as diplomatic talks were on in Colombo, officials said fighting raged 400 kilometres north in Jaffna between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

When India turned down a request for military assistance, the Sri Lankan government turned to Israel and re-established diplomatic ties with the Jewish state after 30 years.

India has offered "humanitarian assistance" and to help evacuate some 40,000 government troops in the northern peninsula of Jaffna. Sri Lanka wants neither, officials said.

Singh had a round of talks with his Sri Lankan counterpart, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sunday and they were to meet again Monday, diplomats said.

"The two ministers had a one-to-one meeting lasting about 45 minutes," foreign ministry spokesman Ravinatha Aryasinha said, adding that they then continued the talks with the president on Sunday night.

Singh was also to meet Sri Lanka's main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and members of the minority political groups before leaving here this evening.

"The foreign minister's visit may be to reassure Sri Lanka that whatever regional leaders say, the central government stands for the unity and integrity of the island," Sri Lanka's opposition spokesman C. Mahendran said.

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