Sri Lanka ? A top U.N. official condemned a kamikaze rebel attack on Sri Lanka’s capital and urged both sides in the nation’s civil war to avoid a “final bloodbath.” Hours later, suspected Tamil separatists killed eight people in a shooting and stabbing attack.

The surprise suicide plane attacks in Colombo late Friday killed four people — including two rebel pilots — and embarrassed the government, which only two weeks ago claimed it had effectively grounded the Tamil Tigers’ small force of light aircraft by seizing all rebel airstrips.

The attacks also signaled the Tamil Tigers were not ready to give up their fight for an independent state for minority Tamils despite an unrelenting government offensive against the rebels’ heartland in the north.

In a separate attack, suspected rebels stormed a village Saturday evening near the eastern Sri Lankan town of Ampara, shooting and stabbing to death six civilians and two police officers, the military said.

That attack highlighted fears that the rebels maintained the ability to carry out guerrilla attacks at will.