Two weeks after the earthquake that hit Indonesia, parts of Banda Aceh are showing signs of life. Markets are bustling, barber shops are open, and old men sip coffee and puff on pungent clove cigarettes in street-side cafes. 

Alongside resurging businesses, however, there are signs that violence may also be returning.

Two hand grenades hurled in a rare clash between Christians and Hindus killed at least three people and injured 37 others in a part of eastern Sri Lanka where international aid workers are helping tsunami victims, said police. No aid workers were reportedly injured or near the explosions at the time, officials said.

Two suspected assailants were arrested soon after the attack in a Tamil rebel-controlled area late on Saturday, said V.H. Anil, a policeman in the eastern town of Valaichchenai.

In devastated Banda Aceh gunfire was reported early Sunday.

No one was hurt in the incident which UN officials downplayed, but aid could be slowed if relief agencies review security precautions.

Indonesian police blamed the gunfire on rebels, who have fought for an independent homeland for nearly three decades.

"We don't believe that aid workers are targets," said Joel Boutroue, a UN relief official in Aceh.

It was not clear who was responsible for the gunfire outside the home of the regional deputy police chief, close to the UN headquarters.

"But we are not treating this as a threat to our security," said Mike Huggins, a World Food Program spokesman.

Insurgents and the military called an unofficial truce after the December 26 disaster, but the shooting and a series of earlier clashes have raised fears fighting may resume.

The US military, which has hundreds of Marines, Navy personnel and troops on the ground in Sumatra and Sri Lanka, said aid workers must remain vigilant while working in restive areas.

"Security is a constant planning factor in all that we do," said US army aid coordinator Major Nelson Chang.

As aid poured into a region long troubled by separatist violence, Indonesian soldiers resumed patrols in Aceh to search for rebels. International aid groups, meanwhile, fear renewed conflict could hamper their work.

The possible resumption of conflict was also underlined when Kofi Annan did not visit areas of Sri Lanka in rebel hands.

The Sri Lankan government said the decision was based on security concerns, but rebels accused the government of scrimping on aid and deliberately diverting assistance away from their areas.

"(Annan) hasn't gone to Ireland and met with the IRA, he hasn't gone to Spain and met with Basque (rebels)," an unnamed government official commented. "There doesn't seem to have been a precedent."

(China Daily January 10, 2005)