Sri Lankan police and the Tamil Tiger rebels had been involved in an exchange of fire in the northern Jaffna peninsula, defense officials said Friday.

The police station at Kodikamam in Jaffna came under fire at around 8:00 p.m. local time (1400 GMT) Thursday.

The police returned the fire and the exchange lasted over 20 minutes, officials added. No one was hurt in the gun battle.

This was the second time that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had fired at the station.

The current wave of violence in the north has raised fears of war returning to the island after the February 2002 ceasefire.

The rebels have carried out as many as four claymore mine attacks recently against the government troops, killing some 40 soldiers.

The international truce monitors, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), said on Thursday that escalating violence indicates that war was not far away and called for action from both sides to adhere to the Norwegian backed ceasefire.

However, the military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said the troops were well prepared to face any eventuality.

He said that despite constant attacks carried out by the Tigers against the troops, the troops morale was very high with several precautionary measures taken to ensure the maintenance of law and order.

The Tigers stepped up attacks against the security forces after the Nov. 27 "Heroes Day" speech by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran.

The reclusive rebel leader said that his group would be forced to invigorate its struggle for self determination for the minority Tamils unless the government came up with a credible solution to the separatist armed conflict.

Source: Xinhua