23 January, 2006 - Published 18:02 GMT

Three soldiers killed in Batticaloa

Three Sri Lanka Army (SLA) personnel were killed and four others sustained injuries in separate incidents in the eastern Sri Lankan town of Batticaloa.

A Lance Corporal and two soldiers were killed and two soldiers were injured in a Claymore mine blast at Urani on Monday morning.

Police said the bomb went off on the Batticaloa-Valachchenai road as troops were sweeping a main highway for mines.

Injured soldiers were admitted to the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital.

'Provocative attacks'

In a separate incident, a wounded police constable was admitted to hospital after a grenade was thrown at security personnel at Arasadi junction.

In an attack on Sunday night, another police constable sustained injuries at Kalladi bridge, outside Batticaloa town.

At least 120 people - including about 80 soldiers and sailors and many civilians - have died in the upsurge of violence since early December.

The attacks on the military have been blamed on the rebels, who deny involvement.

Analysts say they are trying to provoke the government into retaliation and war.

So far the government has not responded, although soldiers have been accused of targeting Tamil civilians.

Tamil Tiger supporters say more than 40 Tamils have been killed by the security forces in a series of attacks since the start of December. Others blame some of those deaths on the rebels or other armed groups.