UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 16 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan deplored on Monday the escalation of violence in Sri Lanka during the past several months, calling on all parties in the country to return to the negotiation table.

    In a statement released by his spokesman, Annan said he is alarmed by the upsurge of violence in Sri Lanka in the past several months, including the latest appalling suicide bombing of a convoy of military buses.

    The secretary-general deplored the escalation of violence, and stressed once again that a return to civil war will not resolve the conflict, the spokesman said.

    The UN chief called upon all parties to refrain from the use of force and to return to the negotiation table at the end of this month, as tentatively agreed between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

    More than 100 Sri Lankan Navy personnel were killed or injured on Monday in a suicide attack blamed on the rebel Tamil Tigers, casting a cloud over the proposed peace talks between the government and the LTTE. Enditem