Colombo, Oct 18 : Sri Lanka''s Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said that the country is fully conscious of the concerns being expressed in India over the developments in the island nation.

Bogollagama, during his talks with India''s High Commissioner Alok Prasad in Colombo on Friday, said that his country intends to further discuss and address the issue in the spirit of the ‘existing excellent bilateral relations’.

Earlier, India asked Sri Lanka to address its concerns over the humanitarian situation in the island nation.

Colombo  - A United Nations food convoy consisting of 50 trucks heading to rebel-held areas in northern Sri Lanka, where tens of thousands of civilians have been displaced, was forced to turn back Thursday due to firing by the rebels, the military claimed.

A military statement said that the trucks turned back at Puliyankulam, 280 kilometres north of the capital, and returned to Vavuniya, the town from where they started their journey.

The military blamed rebels for launching an "indiscriminate artillery and heavy mortar attack."

Colombo  - Government troops killed 47 Tamil rebels while suffering six fatalities in offensive operations in northern Sri Lanka, military officials said Wednesday.

The casualties occurred Tuesday in ongoing fighting in central and coastal areas of Killinochchi district, 380 kilometres north of the capital.

Government troops have engaged Tamil rebels on several fronts in continued efforts to recapture more rebel-held areas, including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) administrative centre Kilinochchi town.

Colombo - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, on a goodwill mission to the subcontinent, arrived in Colombo Thursday for a short visit aimed at boosting political and technical ties with Sri Lanka, officials said.

Abbas was welcomed by his Sri Lankan counterpart Mahinda Rajapaksa on arrival at the Bandaranaike International airport Thursday afternoon.

He is scheduled to hold talks with the president, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka and opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe before he leaves the country on Friday evening.

Colombo  - A senior Cabinet minister escaped unhurt after a suicide attack by suspected Tamil rebels in the outskirts of Sri Lanka's capital Thursday afternoon, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Agriculture Minister Maithripala Sirisena's convoy was hit in the suicide attack at Piliyandala, 12 kilometres south of the capital, but the vehicle with the minister had passed by.

At least one civilian was killed and seven others injured in the blast.

The military spokesman blamed the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the attack.

Colombo – In a landmark judgment delivered Wednesday, Sri Lanka's former president Chandrika Kumaratunga was fined by the country's Supreme Court for illegally allocating state land to a private golf course project.