Two killed, 17 wounded in explosions during Sri Lanka voting

Two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels were killed and 17 people were wounded in separate grenade attacks and a bomb explosion in Sri Lanka's northeast as the country voted to elect a new president, police said.





Two suspected Tamil Tiger rebels were killed and 17 people were wounded in separate grenade attacks and a bomb explosion in Sri Lanka's northeast as the country voted to elect a new president, police said. Two men believed to be members of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed when a bomb ripped through a house in Pandirippu in the northeastern district of Batticaloa, police said.

Police said said seven others in the house were wounded and they suspected that the bomb may have gone off prematurely.

The blast came as unidentified attackers lobbed grenades at polling booths in the same region during voting Thursday.

One grenade ripped through a booth at Chenkaladi, also in the Batticaloa district, leaving two women and five men wounded, police said.

Another three people were wounded in a grenade attack outside another polling station in the same district, which witnessed heavy fighting between troops and Tamil Tigers before a truce in 2002.

Seven people