S Lanka blast kills 1, army blames Tamil Tigers

Colombo, Apr 21: A claymore mine blast killed a guard and wounded a police officer in northeast Sri Lanka today, in an attack the army blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels, the latest violence threatening the island's fragile truce.

The blast, which occurred near the northeastern port city of Trincomalee, came a day after the Tigers said they were postponing indefinitely talks with the government initially set for next week, despite the efforts of a Norwegian peace envoy.

''It was a claymore explosion early this morning,'' said army spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe, referring to the type of fragmentation mine.

Troops and police were searching the area, which was close to the border between government and rebel-held territory, he said.

The government and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam signed a ceasefire in 2002 after two decades of civil war, but about 80 people have been killed in the past two weeks and many fear the island could be heading back to a full-scale conflict.

REUTERS

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