Sri Lanka truce talks dim as blasts kill seven
Apr. 15 (AFP) – Suspected Tamil Tigers detonated two mines in Sri Lanka Saturday, killing seven security personnel as both the government and the rebels cast fresh doubts over plans to resume truce talks.
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The first mine hidden in a parked farm vehicle was detonated as a bus full of troops drove past in Vavuniya district, a military spokesman said.
He said five soldiers were killed and 11 others were wounded.
In the second attack, an air force jeep hit a mine, which killed two airmen and wounded another in the northeastern district of Trincomalee, the official said.
Four more Claymore mines, two of them in the northern district of Vavuniya, had been uncovered earlier in the day and were defused by security forces before they exploded, he said.
At least 53 people, mostly security personnel, have died in attacks in the past week in Sri Lanka, where over 60,000 people have been killed in three decades of ethnic bloodshed between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils.
Talks between the Colombo government and Tamil Tiger rebels were due to be held in Switzerland on April 24 in a bid to save a shaky cea