Five Lankan soldiers killed in blast
IRNA - Islamic Republic News Agency
New Delhi, April 11, IRNA
Sri Lanka-Violence
Five Sri Lankan soldiers and two civilians have been killed in northern Jaffna Peninsula when a powerful claymore mine hit their vehicle in the A9 Jaffna-Kandy main highway.
"An army double cab traveling on the A9 highway at Mirusuvil located between Kodikamam and Omanthai entry-exit point was caught in a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) claymore mine explosion, killing five soldiers and wounding one more," media reports said here quoting military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe.
He said that another vehicle belonging to the HUDEC, a non-governmental organization (NGO), traveling in the opposite direction was also hit by the blast.
"Two civilian NGO workers (locals) were killed and two more injured," Brig Samarasinghe said.
The incident took place at a time when diplomatic heads of mission of Sri Lanka's donor community particularly Norway, Japan and European Union (EU) were holding a meeting with the head of the LTTE's political wing, S P Thamilselvan, "to encourage the Tamil Tigers to attend the next round of direct talks in Geneva scheduled for April 19."
President Mahinda Rajapakse is also scheduled to hold an all party conference here in Colombo late this evening to discuss the matter pertaining to the next round of talks with the LTTE in Geneva.
"We strongly urge both the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to do everything in their hands to stick to the letter of the ceasefire agreement and what was agreed in Geneva and implement them as it would help rapidly move forward the next round (of talks) in Geneva," Solheim said in Colombo.
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