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Thousands of activists from the National Patriotic Movement (PNM) of Sri Lanka staged a demonstration on Monday in capital Colombo, demanding the banning of the Tamil Tiger rebels and withdrawal from the Norwegian backed truce.

Wimal Weerawansa, a member of Sri Lankan parliament and the convener of the PNM told the gathering that "we want the president to ban the LTTE and withdraw from the cease-fire agreement."

Weerawansa said by trying to kill the Army commander and the defense secretary, the LTTE had demonstrated that they were no longer interested in the Norwegian backed peace process that began in 2002.

The LTTE rebels on Dec. 1 carried out an unsuccessful suicide bomb attack against Gotabhaya Rajapakse, the defense secretary and the brother of the president.

Late April the rebels failed in an attack against Army Commander Sarath Fonseka.

Responding to the attack against the defense secretary, the government last week introduced new counter terrorism laws.

The LTTE was banned as a terrorist organization in 1998 but the ban was lifted in 2002 with the rebel group's entry to the process of negotiations.

Several nations including the United States, Britain, Canada and the European Union have banned the LTTE as a terrorist outfit.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's military said Monday that 24 soldiers have been killed in the last three days during clashes with the Tamil Tigers in the east.

Prasad Samarasinghe, the military spokesman said 68 soldiers were also injured in the fighting with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Batticaloa and Trincomalee area.

Samarasinghe said the security forces restrained artillery and MBRL (Multiple Barrel Rocket Launcher) retaliation to counter intense Tiger shelling following intelligence reports that the LTTE has moved heavy guns into densely populated areas.

"If the security forces retaliated with artillery, MBRL and mortars, hundred of civilians would have been killed in Tiger-held Vakarai," said the spokesman, adding that ground forces were deployed in the region to minimize civilian casualties.

Samarasinghe said that there were no major clashes in the east on Sunday following four days of fighting between the two sides.

The government said six civilians were killed while another 16 including 10 school children were injured in the battle.

It also said 3,210 people mostly ethnic Sinhalese had been displaced since the LTTE stepped up attacks against civilians from Thursday.

The international community has been urging the two sides to stop violence and return to talks. The clashes escalated after Norwegian special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer failed on Friday to break the deadlock between the warring parties.

(Xinhua News Agency December 12, 2006)