Suspected Tamil rebels kill Sri Lankan soldier

Violence since the beginning of April has killed at least 271 people, endangering the shaky 2002 ceasefire.

Suspected Tamil rebel snipers shot and killed a Sri Lankan soldier in the country's north, the military said on Thursday, in surging violence that threatens to plunge the island nation back into full-scale civil war.

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The killing occurred late on Wednesday in Muhamalai, the entry point to government-controlled northern Jaffna peninsula, military spokesman Brig Prasad Samarasinghe said.

Jaffna is 300 kilometers north of capital, Colombo.

Violence since the beginning of April has killed at least 271 people, endangering the shaky 2002 ceasefire between the Tamil Tigers and the government.

The ceasefire accord halted 19 years of open warfare between the minority Tamil rebels and the majority Sinhalese-dominated government.