Norway's special peace envoy Erik Solheim stressed Tuesday the need to stop killings and counter killings in the Eastern Province, the theater of continued murders.

Solheim toured the Eastern Province Tuesday to meet with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and the government security forces.

Solheim stressed in the eastern Kokkadicholai rebel held territory that "killings and counter killings must stop."

The mainstream LTTE and the renegade Karuna faction face accusations of internecine war fare in which over 40 people had been killed since January this year.

Before traveling to Kokkadicholai the Norwegian envoy was briefed with details of the security situation in the province by the military in the main town of Batticaloa.

The east has seen a spate of killings and continued incidents of violence with the breaking away of the renegade Karuna from the mainstream LTTE in March last year.

The deteriorating security situation has hampered the Norwegian efforts to revive the stalled peace talks aimed at ending the long running separatist armed conflict.