Colombo - The Sri Lankan government Wednesday proscribed rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with effect from midnight, a cabinet minister said.

Tamil rebels had initially been declared a proscribed organization in January 1998 after they carried out a suicide bomb attack on a sacred Buddhist venue in central Sri Lanka, but the ban was later lifted in September 2002 to facilitate their return for peace talks under a Norwegian backed ceasefire.

The government officially withdrew from the truce agreement in January last year after a series of rebels attacks followed by military operations.

Wednesday's decision again to ban the LTTE was proposed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa and unanimously approved by the cabinet, minister Maithripala Sirisena told reporters.

The proscription prevents the government from considering any talks with the rebels. Rajapaksa two weeks ago called on them to lay down the weapons and surrender, but there has been no response.

An official gazette notification to this effect would be issued and the proscription was going into effect at midnight (1830 GMT).

One reason for the ban was that rebels were preventing civilians from leaving rebel-controlled areas to get to military-controlled areas. A strong military campaign is under way to recapture rebel-held areas in northern Sri Lanka. (dpa)