Three Tamil Tiger rebels blew themselves up at sea today after being caught with a cache of weapons.
Two Nordic truce monitors and a translator jumped overboard to escape the explosion after boarding a boat to investigate weapons, including an anti-aircraft gun and hand grenades.
Today's suicide standoff began when the navy intercepted an Indian-registered trawler staffed by Tigers yesterday and asked the monitors for help after the rebels threatened to swallow their trademark cyanide capsules if naval officers came on board.
"It was very clearly a violation of the ceasefire. It is clear the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] were transporting these weapons," spokesman for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said.
A statement from mediator Norway said two days of peace talks to end 19 years of war that has killed 64,000 people had gone ahead in Berlin, Germany, as planned.
"In cooperation with the SLMM, the parties will review existing procedures in order to avoid similar incidents in the future," the statement said.
The Norwegian-brokered truce that is the basis for talks has been holding since last February, but most of the violations have taken place at sea, including an incident on the eve of November talks when six rebels were arrested on a boat carrying mines.