Seven people wounded in Sri Lanka blasts

COLOMBO, June 29, 2007 (AFP) - At least seven people, including three soldiers, were wounded in two roadside bomb attacks in Sri Lanka's north on Friday, officials said.





Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a Claymore mine at Cheddikulam in the district of Vavuniya as a civilian bus passed the area and wounded four civilian passengers and a soldier, military officials said.

Two more soldiers were wounded in a roadside bomb attack in the Jaffna peninsula, the military said.

The latest violence came as the military said it had stepped up a campaign against the Tamil Tigers in the east of the island, despite efforts by peace broker Norway to save a tattered truce agreement dating back to 2002.

A similar bomb attack killed an officer and a soldier in Jaffna on Thursday.

Police said a local politician had also been gunned down by unidentified attackers in the eastern district of Ampara on Thursday.

There was no claim of responsibility for the killing of the politician linked to a party that is seen as a proxy of Tamil Tiger rebels.

More than 60,000 people are reported to have been killed in the separatist campaign in the past 35 years.

Update