1 soldier killed, 2 wounded in South Lanka's mine blast

Colombo, Mar 8 (UNI) At least one soldier was killed and two others wounded when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a powerful claymore mine in Sri Lanka's Southern Monaragala district this morning, military here said.

''Three soldiers received injuries due to the explosion. One soldier succumbed to his injuries while undergoing treatment,'' Defence Ministry here claimed, adding the claymore mine was triggered off targeting the troops carrying tractor in a jungle patch at Galge along the Buttala-Kataragama road.

The Sri Lankan Army and Police are now conducting extensive search operations in the area, the defence sources reported.

In a separate incident, in the north-western Anuradhapura district, troops recovered and defused a 10 kg claymore close to Basavakulam based on information provided by a civilian in the area this morning.

UNI XC SYU PM1355