E. Koushalyan, the eastern provincial political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and five others were buried under tight police and military security Thursday. All of them were killed by gunmen on Monday.

"The cowardly act of the Sri Lankan government has taken away Koushalyan and his colleagues from us," said the LTTE's political wing head S.P. Thamilselvan during the funeral ceremony.

There has been no claim of responsibility for the slayings yet.

Military officials said they suspected Monday's attack was carried out by a breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers led by the former number two in the leadership, known as Karuna.

The Tigers, however, maintain that the attack was carried out by renegade rebels working with the army.

Another rebel leader accused Colombo of attempting to crush the Tamils.

"We thought the tsunami disaster which killed Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese, regardless of their race and class, would have driven some sense into the Sinhala political leaders," said V. Balakumar, a senior LTTE leader who was also present at the funeral.

"Koushalyan's murder shows they have not changed. They are still intent on crushing the Tamil nation by foul means."

Police and security forces remained on high alert in eastern Sri Lanka as shops and offices remained shut in the district of Batticaloa where the LTTE carried the remains of the slain guerrillas in procession ahead of a burial at a "heroes' cemetery."

The coffins of Koushalyan and the others were put on public display in an area held by the Tigers as well as in the main town that is held by government forces.

"There is less traffic on the road, shops and offices remain shut," a government military official in Batticaloa said earlier in the day, adding that the rebels had been provided with security for the funerals.

Later he said the funerals went off peacefully.

Both Colombo and the Tigers have said the killings were a breach of the Norwegian-arranged truce which has been in place since February 2002. The government said it heightened fears of a return to hostilities.

Koushalyan was the most senior Tiger to be gunned down since both sides began observing the truce. Peace talks have remained deadlocked since April

On Tuesday Thamilselvan skipped a meeting with international donors as the group discussed the slayings.

More than 60,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka's conflict between 1972 and 2002 when the ceasefire went into effect.