"The cabinet of ministers today decided to pull out of the ceasefire," presidential spokesman Chandrapala Liyanage said. "The legal process will now kick in."
Under the February 2002 ceasefire brokered by Oslo, both the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers had the option to pull out after giving two weeks' written notice to the Norwegian foreign minister.
Liyanage said Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake proposed that the government should formally quit the truce because it was holding only on paper since an escalation of fighting in December 2005.
The defence ministry said the government had also decided to formally end any negotiating process with the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which was held responsible for a bomb attack in Colombo on Wednesday which police said killed at least five and wounded 28.
"The government sees no point of having any attempt to come to a settlement with a terrorist outfit," the ministry said, quoting its