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Roadside bomb kills 2 police officers in Sri Lanka
A roadside bomb attack killed two police officers and injured four others as they carried out a patrol on Wednesday in eastern Sri Lanka, the military said.
- AP
- Published: 15:25 March 26, 2008
Colombo: A roadside bomb attack killed two police officers and injured four others as they carried out a patrol on Wednesday in eastern Sri Lanka, the military said.
At about 9:30 am, suspected rebels detonated a bomb planted alongside a road in the Batticaloa district as a police patrol passed, the military said in a statement.
Two officers died instantly, the military said. The military blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the bombing.
Meanwhile, fighting continued along the civil war's front lines in the north.
Air force fighter jets bombed and destroyed a boat-manufacturing facility in the rebel-held Mullaitivu district on Wednesday, the military said.
Helicopter gunships also attacked two rebel gathering points along the front lines in the Mannar district, where heavy fighting has been reported for the last few months.
Ten rebels were killed in the Vavuniya district on Tuesday, an official said. Another 13 rebels were killed in fighting in the Jaffna, Mannar and Welioya regions, while four soldiers were wounded, he said.
The government announced last year it had routed the rebels from eastern Sri Lanka after 13 years of Tamil Tiger control. The focus of the government's fight against the rebels then moved to the rebels' stronghold in the north.
However, the rebels have continued to carry out sporadic attacks on military and police targets in the eastern areas.
The Tamil Tigers have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for ethnic minority Tamils who have been marginalized for decades by successive governments run by majority ethnic Sinhalese.
More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.
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