Top Tamil rebel commander, three guerrillas killed in mine blast

A top Tamil rebel commander and three other guerrillas were killed in a mine blast in northwestern Sri Lanka Saturday, a pro-rebel report said, as surging violence threatens to drag the island nation back to full-scale civil war.

Pro-rebel Web site TamilNet reported that Lt. Col. Mahenthi was killed by an anti-personnel mine activated by government military in a rebel-held region of Mannar district 220 kilometers (135 miles) north of the capital, Colombo.

Military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe denied army was involved in the blast saying that the soldiers do not enter rebel-controlled areas in accordance with a 2002 cease-fire agreement.

Mahenthi is the second high profile rebel to be killed since May.

Also Saturday, a gunman boarded a passenger bus and fatally shot an ethnic Tamil man and a 10-year-old boy in northeastern Sri Lanka, the government said.

Another passenger was critically wounded in the shooting in Muttur, about 230 kilometers (140 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, the Media Center for National Security said.

The center said it suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the killings but that the motive was unknown. Rebel officials could not be contacted immediately for comment.

Scores of government troops and rebels have been killed in Sri Lanka's volatile north and east since April, when hostilities heightened between the government and Tamil Tigers.

Also many civilians have been killed under mysterious circumstances with the government and the rebels blaming each other for the crimes.

On Friday, an entire family of four _ a man, his wife and their two young children _ were found hacked to death in northwestern Sri Lanka.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels have fought the government since 1983 to create a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils, accusing the majority Sinhalese-dominated state of discrimination.

More than 65,000 people were killed in the conflict before the two sides signed a 2002 cease-fire brokered by Norway. Subsequent peace talks have broken down.

On Thursday, proposed direct talks in Norway between government and rebel representatives on ensuring the security of 60 European cease-fire monitors failed after the rebels refused to meet with government officials.

(http://www.theacademic.org/stories/11499557990/story.shtml)