While the government has denied any move for talks with the LTTE, at least one of the soldiers released by the rebels on Sunday through the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) believes that the two sides may be preparing for talks.

Lance corporal E A Amarasinghe told journalists at the army headquarters that he and the others were released because ``they might be thinking of negotiations''.

Amarasinghe, who had learned Tamil during his incarceration, declined to say why he thought so.

``I certainly want talks. Common people want it,'' said the soldier from Kandy, who was taken prisoner when the rebels overran the Pooneryn army camp in the north in November 1993.

Justice and constitutional affairs minister G L Peiriscategorically stated last week that there was no move for talks with the LTTE now.

He was commenting on a reported statement by an LTTE leader that they had no objection to talking with the government through a facilitator. He said the government would have no objection to such talks at a suitable time.

Speculation about possible resumption of talks came up after the recent devastating attack by the rebels on the Killinochchi army camp, killing more than 1,000 soldiers, foiling the government's plans to capture a northern highway from the militants.

The three civilians released by the rebels were all Sinhalese crew members of two ships they had captured. There are twelve more crew members still in the rebel custody. They had earlier released the foreign and Tamil crew members of the vessels.

Another released soldier reinforced the speculation about talks when he said he was optimistic that the other soldiers held by the rebels would also be released soon.

``I want to tell the parents and relativesof the other soldiers still in LTTE custody not to lose hope. They will be also released,'' L P Pushpakumara from Matara, who was taken prisoner during a rebel attack on an army camp in the Weli Oya area in July 1993 said.

There is no official estimate of the number of soldiers held prisoners by the LTTE and army commander Lt Gen Rohan Daluwatte said he was unable to give any figures.

Though the LTTE is not known to take prisoners, the released soldiers felt that there were many more with them. They said the prisoners were held in small groups of about 20 in different places.

Those taken from Pooneryn were first held in Jaffna after treating them for their wounds. When Jaffna fell to the security forces, the prisoners were shifted to Mullaitivu.

Pushpakumara said he was thankful to LTTE leader V Prabhakaran for releasing him and giving him his life back. ``I have no anger against the LTTE because they spared my life. They could have killed me,'' said the soldier, who has spent most of his years incaptivity.