Colombo  - Foreign ministers of eight South Asian nations are set to open a regional meeting Thursday where common issues including trade, transport, environment and poverty are to be discussed.

The meeting takes place ahead of a meeting of the eight countries' heads of state over the weekend during the 15th summit of the South Asian Association of Regional Co-operation (SAARC) in Colombo.

A tight security cover has been imposed in Colombo despite a unilateral cease-fire declared by Tamil rebels from July 26 to August 4. The government has rejected the truce and poured in 20,000 police and other security personnel to protect the city.

Colombo - Government troops entered a rebel stronghold in northern Sri Lanka, killing at least 25 Tamil rebels, a military spokesman said Thursday.

Troops advanced to the Mallavai area, 320 kilometres north of Colombo, penetrating as far as the Mullaitivu district where rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had been living, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

During the operation troops killed 25 rebels and captured an irrigation tank as well as three mortars, the spokesman said.

Srinagar, July 14 : Activists of the Hurriyat Conference, a separatist group in Jammu and Kashmir, staged a demonstration in Srinagar today demanding a probe into the ''unmarked graves'' issue while alleging human rights violations in the State.

The protesters demanded the intervention of the United Nations (UN) to identify over a thousand unmarked graves in cemeteries in 18 villages close to the Line of Control, which divides India and Pakistan.

New Delhi - At least two Indian fishermen were killed early on Saturday when