Blast kills two Sri Lankan soldiers: military

Two soldiers were killed in a land mine attack in northern Sri Lanka on Wednesday, the military said, as sporadic fighting raged along the frontline with the Tamil Tiger-held north.

The two men were blown up in a roadside blast in the district of Vavuniya while they were on a routine patrol to look for mines planted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), a military official said.

The latest attack came a day after the Tigers shelled a military camp in the same area, killing six soldiers and wounding 10 more.

According to the defence ministry, 1,168 rebels and 70 government soldiers and police have been killed so far this year.

Casualty figures given by the government cannot be independently verified as journalists and human rights workers are barred from frontline and rebel-held areas.

The Sri Lankan government last month officially pulled out of a defunct truce with the rebels, who have fought for more than three decades for an independent ethnic homeland in the Sinhalese-majority island.