The main Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) pounded a base of the faction led by V. Muralitharan, better known as Colonel Karuna, in the jungles of Welikanda, a military official in the area said Sunday.

"The fighting is in an 'uncleared' (LTTE-controlled) area. We have not been able to go there and see for ourselves what is going on," the official said on condition of anonymity.

"What we know is what we have gathered from intercepted radio communications. They speak of 10 killed on Karuna's side and eight on the other."

Nine of the wounded were admitted to hospital in Polonnaruwa, about 30 kilometers (19 miles) from Welikanda, where doctors told AFP they were suffering knife, gunshot and blast wounds.

Lying side-by-side in Ward 7, the victims had bandages on their chests, legs, hands, arms and heads. One had lost his hand.

Speaking haltingly through an interpreter, one -- who could not give his name and who was clearly in great pain -- said they were attacked at 1:00 am Sunday.

"There were many of them. They attacked us with machetes, guns and explosives," he said, confirming he and the other wounded were members of Karuna's faction. He refused to speak further.

Military officials in the area, about three kilometres from the fighting, said they heard automatic rifle fire for about 45 minutes and also rocket-propelled grenades.

The pro-LTTE tamilnet.com website said an LTTE commando unit had launched the assault against Karuna's Kasankulam base, killing "around 20 paramilitary operatives of the Karuna group" and destroying weapons there.

Sri Lankan troops fired mortars at the attacking LTTE commandos, the Tamilnet said, without mentioning whether there had been any casualties.

The defence ministry denied its troops were involved.

"We have not fired a single shot in that area," ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe told AFP. "But we opened fire with small arms and mortars at two other places last night when our defence lines came under attack."

He said troops at the Kokkuthuduvai and Vavunathivu camps elsewhere in the eastern province came under Tiger fire, which was returned. There were no immediate reports of casualties, Samarasinghe said.

Retired brigadier-general Vipul Boteju told AFP the rebel offensive was expected because the LTTE had said it wanted to wipe out Karuna's faction.

"This attack could be the prelude to a bigger attack they may be planning against the military," he said.

The Tigers have dubbed Karuna's faction a "paramilitary force" and wanted it disarmed before entering talks with the government on saving the troubled truce in place since February 2002.

Government forces regard the latest internecine clash as the worst since the main Tiger unit overran Karuna's bases in April 2004, a month after he split from the main rebel group.

The Tigers have accused the military of supporting the Karuna faction, a charge denied by authorities.

During ceasefire review talks in Switzerland in February, the LTTE insisted that government forces disarm Karuna's men before another round of negotiations could take place. Talks have since been postponed.

Scandinavians monitoring Sri Lanka's truce have said paramilitary units were operating in the troubled northeast. On Sunday the government protested another allegation by the monitors, that government forces may have been responsible for extrajudicial killings.

Faced with a recent escalation of violence, peacebroker Norway has been trying to arrange a fresh round of talks amid mounting international pressure on both sides to return to the table.

Nearly 200 people have been killed in the past month.

As the separate rows showed no sign of abating, an ICM poll in the conservative Sunday Times newspaper suggested a majority (57 percent) now viewed Labour as "sleazy and incompetent".

Blair's personal rating also appeared to be at its lowest ebb since he became Labour leader in 1994: 64 percent thought he was doing badly, while just 33 percent said he was doing well.

Most also believed heads should roll: 48 percent thought Prescott should be sacked, 53 percent want Clarke to be axed and 51 percent of the voters want Hewitt to resign.

Hewitt claimed last week that the publicly funded National Health Service had enjoyed "its best year ever", despite cash-strapped hospitals being forced to cut thousands of jobs and frontline services to balance the books.

A separate ICM poll for the conservative Sunday Express showed the main opposition Conservatives had nudged ahead with 29 percent backing, with Labour on 27 percent and the Liberal Democrats on 22 percent.

A majority found the Home Office and NHS rows as "very damaging", but the public viewed Prescott's affair as "not very damaging".

The leader of the main opposition Conservatives David Cameron said Blair had suffered "a terminal loss of authority" while other Tories called for the ministers to quit.

But senior Labour figures have been fighting back as parties geared up for key local elections in England this Thursday.

Transport Secretary Alistair Darling told BBC television the government would bounce back while Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell dismissed reports that Labour backbenchers want to force Blair to name a firm date to leave office.

Jowell -- who has herself come under scrutiny because of her estranged husband's business dealings with former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi -- said that was "absolutely ridiculous".

The government faced a test of character, she condeded, but it was "not a government of ministers who are on the make, of ministers who are liars".

Prescott himself rounded on attention given to his two-year affair with Tracey Temple, lurid details of which covered nine pages in the Mail on Sunday.

He claimed much of her account was "simply untrue".

Although admitting he "acted stupidly" and appealing for privacy to rebuild bridges with his wife, Pauline, he also said he would take the matter to the Press Complaints Commission, accusing Temple of being motivated by money.

Reports put her fee at between 100,000 pounds (144,500 euros, 182,500 dollars) and 250,000 pounds.

For her part Temple insisted she was not responsible for the story being made public but now wanted to set the record straight as she had been "misrepresented".

Meanwhile, as police continued the search for the most dangerous of the 1,023 foreign criminals overlooked for possible deportation on their release from prison, Blair told the News of the World he could not guarantee Clarke's position.

Clarke has faced a strong backlash since admitting the blunder and said Friday that five of the most serious offenders had gone on to commit drugs and violence offences.

Another two had been accused of rape, with one of the cases occurring after ministers were made aware of the situation.

Girija Prasad Koirala took the oath in front of King Gyanendra just hours before legislators acted on demands from hundreds of thousands of protesters to call elections for a new body to end the monarch's sweeping powers.

"We have fulfilled the demands of the people," said Dr. Ram Sharan Mahat, joint-secretary of the Nepali Congress party, late Sunday.

"Now the government will announce a ceasefire and form a team to negotiate with the Maoist rebels," said Mahat.

"They (Maoists) should renounce violence and be ready to come to the negotiating table."

Elections to a constituent assembly were a key demand for Maoists who began their rebellion in 1996 which has left at least 12,500 people dead.

The Maoists, who control large parts of the countryside, are seen as key to any long-term solution to Nepal's problems.

Events moved quickly after Koirala's morning swearing-in ceremony at the Narayanhiti Royal Palace when the veteran democracy campaigner stood face-to-face with the king during the short ceremony.

He went to parliament later Sunday where he called on the Maoists to renounce violence as he faced the prospect of keeping together an unwieldy seven-party coalition and persuade the Maoists to join talks.

Parliament sat Friday for the first time in four years but Koirala missed it, along with his planned swearing-in ceremony that day, because of bronchitis. He says he is well enough to lead the country.

Gyanendra sacked the government and seized total power in February 2005, accusing the administration of corruption and saying it had done too little to tackle the Maoist insurgency.

But the Maoists and a seven-party opposition alliance joined together to mobilise hundreds of thousands on the streets during 19 days in April in protests which were often countered violently by security forces.

One man died in a New Delhi hospital Saturday from injuries sustained during a protest in Kathmandu nine days earlier, bringing the total killed in the 19 days of clashes to at least 16.

Last week, Gyanendra buckled under the nationwide protests and agreed in a televised address to reinstate parliament dissolved in 2002, after earlier asking the opposition to name a premier.

Maoist rebel forces announced a three-month ceasefire Thursday to "motivate" political leaders to call elections to a constituent assembly -- their key demand for joining mainstream political life.

There was no immediate word from them after Sunday's decision, although no date was set for elections to reframe the 1990 constitution.

The current constitution gives the king powers to dismiss the government and take control of the 90,000-strong military.

Banners at rallies have warned politicians that they are being closely watched to ensure there is no repeat of the king's power grab.

But analysts have warned of months of continued wrangling and potential instability because of the complex constitutional issues. The king's future role remains unclear.

Newly disclosed documents showed that Jaruzelski had worked for the military intelligence service, the TVP said, citing chief of the national commemoration research institute.

According to the revealed archives, Jaruzelski registered in the intelligence service in 1946, and the registration data also included a nickname, his birth date and information about his father.

The report said some content in the documents on Jaruzelski's cooperation with the intelligence service had been deleted, and only pieces of records on the margins of these papers were left.

Similar reports on Jaruzelski, who was president from 1989 to 1990, first surfaced last June. However, in an interview with the Polish news agency on Sunday, the 83-year-old former president declined to make comments.

Rescuers had been digging slowly towards the area but were beginning to lose hope of finding the men alive after the body of a third miner was found on Thursday.

But late on Sunday, they heard the men talking and managed to communicate with them.

"It's cold and cramped in here. Get us out," one of them told rescuers.

'Delicate operation'

"The rescue has reached a very delicate stage," mine manager Matthew Gill told reporters.

"We have established permanent contact with the two men and they have received some food and fresh water and they do remain in good spirits."

The men had been surviving on water running off the rocks inside the mine.

Rescuers managed to pass through biscuits, water, energy drinks and vitamin pills through the four inch (10cm) tube.

Australian Workers' Union national secretary Bill Shorten told the AP news agency that the rescue operation would be a slow process.

"It's going to take a long time. You have to replenish them physically in order that they are able to cope with the next stage of the work," he said.

Prime Minister John Howard praised the resilience of the local community.

"All Australians will share the joy of the families of the two miners found alive at Beaconsfield," he said.

He offered his sympathy over the death of the third miner, Larry Knight. "Our thoughts are very much with his family," he said.