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Land mine blast kills 12 sailors in eastern Sri Lanka+(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)COLOMBO, April 11_(Kyodo) _ Twelve Sri Lankan naval personnel were killed and seven others seriously injured when suspected Tamil Tiger rebels blew up a bus ferrying the sailors from the Eastern port city of Trincomalee to a nearby town on Tuesday. The blast could endanger a second round of peace talks between the government and the Liberation Tigers or Tamil Eelam scheduled to be held from April 19 to 21 in Switzerland, officials said. The latest attack was identical to a similar claymore mine attack the previous day on a military vehicle in the northern Jaffna peninsula, in which five soldiers and two civilians were killed. "This is most disturbing," a diplomat in Colombo said on condition of anonymity. "There were no incidents whatever after the dates were set for the last round of talks between the government and LTTE in February." Three Britons were also injured when the attacked navy bus hit an oncoming vehicle in which they were traveling, police said. "We are compelled to take preventive measures," a military spokesman said. Analysts noted Tuesday's blast was the third attack against the military since the February peace talks in Geneva. President Mahinda Rajapakse is under increasing pressure from the People's Liberation Front, which helped his victory in last November's presidential election, to get rid of the Norwegian peace facilitators who brokered the February 2002 ceasefire in accordance with a pre-election agreement. On Monday, the party told the president it cannot support the peace talks unless the Tamil Tigers end their present course of action. |