The leader of the political wing of the main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), S. Thilak, said their fighters were poised against the faction of regional commander V. Muralitharan in the adjoining Batticaloa district.

"Both sides have their cadres camping on the two banks of the Verugal river that marks the district border," Thilak told reporters here after talks with a visiting Norwegian peace envoy, Erik Solheim.

Thilak said although the two factions were facing each other across the river, there had been no fighting between the two groups, which, according to the military, were within small-arms range of each other.

Both sides have sought to play down fears of an internecine war, but government forces have been placed on alert to avoid getting dragged into a fresh conflict.

The military here said it was concerned after hearing explosions overnight from an area held by the Tigers but that the blasts later turned out to be a rebel training exercise.

Norwegian envoy Solheim was visiting Trincomalee, 260 kilometresmiles) northeast of the capital Colombo, as part of a previously arranged visit to review the Oslo-arranged ceasefire between the Colombo government and Tigers.

Solheim told reporters after his talks with Thilak that they were keeping out of the internal rift within the LTTE, which entered Norwegian-brokered peace talks with the Colombo government in September 2002.

WAR.WIRE