Tamil Tiger separatists ambushed an army bus in northern Sri Lanka, killing six soldiers, as nine others were killed in fighting elsewhere on the war-torn island, defence officials said Monday.
Guerrillas of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ambushed the bus Monday by exploding a claymore mine at Maduvil in the Jaffna peninsula, defence ministry spokesman Sanath Karunaratne said.
"The victims were returning home on leave when the terrorists set off a powerful claymore mine," Karunaratne said.
In clashes Sunday in Sri Lanka's northeast, three security personnel and six Tiger rebels were killed, the ministry said in a statement.
The bus attack in the Jaffna peninsula came in an area where government forces had recently established control after driving out the Tigers.
Government forces captured the peninsula in December 1995, dismantling a de-facto state run by the LTTE, who want an independent country in Sri Lanka's northern and eastern regions for the island's Tamil minority.
The last major bomb attack on the peninsula was in September 1998, when the rebels set off a powerful explosion at the Jaffna municipal council, killing the mayor and 10 others.
Meanwhile, the LTTE's clandestine Voice of Tigers radio denied government claims the guerrillas had closed a vital civilian crossing point in the northern Wanni region – COLOMBO (AFP)
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