The Sri Lankan government said Tuesday that it will have talks with at least three international airlines who have either suspended their services to the island or changed their schedules for fears of further attacks by Tamil Tiger rebels.

Renton Alwis, the chairman of the Ceylon Tourist Board, said that talks would be held with Emirates, Cathay Pacific and Singapore Airlines.

"We will have talks so that services could be continued during daylight hours," Alwis said.

Airlines began to entertain security fears after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out their second air raid last Sunday on the city of Colombo and suburbs.

In the first attack on March 26, the rebels bombed the Sri Lanka Air Force base adjoining the international airport.

Cathay Pacific and Emirates have totally suspended their Colombo services while Singapore Airlines has said that all their Colombo arrivals and departures would be restricted to daylight time flights.

Alwis said talks with Emirates and Cathay Pacific would be aimed at facilitating the two services to shift to daylight time schedules.

The Tiger rebels are believed to be possessing at least two light aircraft which the government said would be destroyed soon.

The activation of the air defense system forced the diversion of several airlines to the neighboring south Indian airports on each of the two occasions the rebels carried out air raids on the city.

The rebel air capability has added a new dimension to the island's long drawn-out separatist armed conflict that had claimed over 67,000 lives since the mid 1980s.

Source: Xinhua