Mine blasts kill two soldiers in Sri Lanka

June 4, 2006 (AFP) - Two soldiers and a bus station guard have been killed in separate attacks in Sri Lanka's troubled northeast, the military said Sunday.











A Claymore mine attack in the district of Mannar killed a soldier and wounded three others while a similar explosion killed another trooper in the northern peninsula of Jaffna Saturday, a military spokesman said.

He said a civilian guard of a bus station was also shot dead by gunmen believed to be from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the district of Batticaloa, but there was no immediate comment from the guerrillas.

More than 600 people have been killed in an upsurge in violence since December despite the truce between the government and the rebels arranged and put in place by peace broker Norway in February 2002.

A Sri Lankan government delegation is due to travel to Norwegian capital Oslo late Sunday to attend two-days of talks on the safety of truce monitors.

A Tiger delegation is due to travel separately early Monday, officials involved in the peace process said.