Sri Lanka's military held off air strikes on Tamil Tiger rebel targets for a second day on Friday as aid workers took stock of the civilian damage, but both sides warned they would attack again if provoked.
More than 110 people have died in the bloodiest three weeks since a 2002 cease-fire, and diplomats say the island teeters on the brink of a new war over the Tigers' fight for a Tamil homeland in the north and east.
"We have not attacked because of the cease-fire, but that doesn't mean we aren't powerful enough to attack," S. Elilan, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) political leader in the north-eastern district of Trincomalee, told reporters.
He was speaking in the rebel-held area of Sampur, which the military hit with air and artillery strikes on Tuesday and Wednesday, beginning hours after a suspected Tiger suicide bomb attack in the capital killed 11 and wounded the army commander.
"If our leader instructs us, we will take the necessary action," Elilan said.
He said 15 were killed in the strikes and 25 wounded, but that the Tigers knew the attacks would be coming and had time to warn people to leave their homes.
International pressure is helping to keep Colombo in check, but with six soldiers and sailors killed on Thursday in suspected Tiger grenade and fragmentation mine attacks, more hawkish voices in government are said to want strikes resumed.
Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said there were no new attacks on Sri Lankan forces on Friday, but that troops on foot patrol were fired on in the north-east late on Thursday and weapons recovered after the incident.
"If they attack us, we will retaliate," he said.
He would not elaborate on what kind of violence would prompt a response.
Amid the violence, mediator Norway has not entirely lost hope that peace talks, which should have taken place last week in Switzerland, can be salvaged.
Aid workers say assessment missions have now moved into rebel areas south of Trincomalee hit by bombing and shelling. They say some people fled their homes, but not nearly as many as initial Tiger estimates indicated.
"We have not found many people displaced," said Amin Awad, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Sri Lanka. "We don't have exact numbers yet, but a lot of them are returning home."
Elilan said about 18,000 people had been displaced and 26 houses destroyed. Electricity supply was also being restored.
Sri Lanka's main donors - Japan, Norway, the European Union and United States - are due to meet later in the day in Oslo to discuss the situation.
The European Union is considering whether to list the LTTE as terrorists alongside al Qaeda - a threat that diplomats say is being used as a weapon to try and bring them to talks.
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