COLOMBO, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) -- The Sri Lankan government said Thursday that it has agreed to hold talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels in Switzerland at the end of this month.

    "The Government of Sri Lanka, having considered the message conveyed to it by the Norwegian facilitator that the LTTE is agreeable to resume talks, has accommodated the suggestion to hold talks on Oct. 28 and 29 in Switzerland," said the government's peace secretariat in a statement.

    The statement also said that the government proposes to engage in a discussion of substantive issues with the LTTE with a view to obtaining a permanent solution to the country's ethnic conflict.

    However, the government said it reserves the right to take counter measures if at any time the LTTE undertook actions of an offensive and provocative nature.

    The statement came as Norwegian special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer was to end his four-day visit to the island in his bid to convince the two parties to enter the negotiating process by eschewing violence.

    Officials said the Sri Lankan government would await the peace facilitator Norway's confirmation of the rebel willingness to accept the government's suggested dates.

    The talks, if happen, would be the first since the Tigers and the government met in Geneva in February and the first since the military clashes were sparked off late July.

    The rebels, while saying that they were not averse to re-starting the direct talks, want the government to stop its offensives into their territory in the north and east.

    The government maintains that they only carry out retaliatory attacks in self defense.

    The violence which marred the Norwegian-backed peace process since the end of last year continues unabated despite both sides making statements that they are committed to negotiations to end the armed separatist conflict.

    The military said that a soldier was killed on Thursday in the northern town of Vavuniya when a rebel claymore mine exploded on an Army foot patrol. Two other soldiers were also injured.

    And in the northern Jaffna peninsula's Nagarkovil area, some nine soldiers were injured due to LTTE mortar fire, defense officials said.

    The military also said the Air Force Kfir jets bombed identified Tiger gun and mortar positions in Jaffna peninsula at around 10:15 a.m. (0445 GMT).

    More than 64,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka's separatist armed conflict between the mid-1980s and February 2002 when the ongoing Norwegian-backed ceasefire came into effect. Enditem