London, August 17:

Norwegian peace brokers held talks today with a top Tamil Tiger negotiator as increasing violence and the assassination of Sri Lanka’s foreign minister threatened the country’s fragile peace process.

Norway’s Foreign Affairs Minister Jan Peterson and his deputy Vidar Helgesen met for 45 minutes at the London home of chief rebel peace negotiator Anton Balasingham, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo said.

The talks were the first since Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was shot by unidentified snipers on Friday. No further details of the meeting were available.