Top commanders from the two sides met in the eastern district of Batticaloa Wednesday as residents there staged a strike to protest the latest killing of a Tamil journalist, military officials said.

The Scandinavian truce monitors who arranged the meeting said the two sides agreed to meet again by mid-June while setting up a system to coordinate crime prevention efforts with police help.

"Both representatives stated they wanted an end to the killings in the Batticaloa area and stressed the importance of coordination and practical arrangements between local commanders," the truce monitors said in a statement.

The meeting took place a day after the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) warned that Sri Lanka was headed for "a period of calamity and destruction" after Monday's slaying of Tamil journalist G. Nadesan.

"Sri Lankan security forces and the militants who are assisting them must realise the consequences," the LTTE said in a statement. "These actions are bound to lead the people of this island to a period of calamity and destruction."

At least 15 people, including civilians, troops and Tigers, have been killed in the eastern province since April 25.

The journalist was shot dead by gunmen near the town of Batticaloa, 303 kilometres (190 miles) east of Colombo. The attack came a week after the killing of an academic in the same area.

The latest meeting came as Sri Lanka's peacebroker Norway failed in its efforts to revive the stalled negotiations between the Tigers and the Colombo government.

Four previous attempts to end Sri Lanka's ethnic bloodshed through political means failed. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the conflict in the past three decades.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's peacebroker, Norway, has agreed to maintain efforts to revive the island's stalled peace talks despite a deadlock in arranging an agenda, the main opposition here said yesterday.

Former government chief peace negotiator G. L. Peiris told reporters that Norwegian envoys, whom he met last month, were preparing an agenda and dates for talks despite setbacks which have left them stalled since April last year.