Sri Lanka mine blast kills 3 soldiers, police say

COLOMBO, Apr 27 (Reuters) A claymore mine blast today in Sri Lanka's northwest killed three soldiers and wounded another two, police said, in an attack blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels. The fragmentation mine attack was at least the third in a day, and follows Sri Lankan military strikes on Tuesday and yesterday on LTTE-held territory.

The strikes, which began hours after a suspected LTTE suicide bomb attack on the army commander, stopped today but the heightened violence has raised fears a 2002 truce could collapse completely and bring a return to a two-decade-old civil war.

REUTERS CH PM1758