Top Sri Lankan Rebel Fighter, 9 Officers Killed

The general leading the war against Tamil separatists was killed Saturday along with nine other top military officers when their vehicle was blown up by a land mine, officials said.

The deaths dealt a potentially severe blow to the military’s morale, which recently had been boosted by a series of victories over the rebels, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

A London-based spokesman for the Tigers, Lawrence Thilakar, claimed responsibility for the blast. But it was not clear whether the land mine was specifically intended to kill the officers or was left over from an earlier campaign.

A Defense Ministry statement asked the public to remain calm.

“This is . . . a big shock to the military,” said former Air Vice Marshal Harry Goonatilleke. “There should be a reassessment of the military’s battle strategy, followed by a reassessment of the political situation.”

The explosion occurred on Kayts Island, which government forces retook from the rebels in November. The island is a few miles from the Jaffna Peninsula, the center of the Tamil insurgency.

Those killed included Maj. Gen. Denzil Kobbekaduwa, commander of the anti-separatist war, and Brig. Gen. Vijaya Wimalaratne, the government commander in northern Sri Lanka. Wimalaratne led the forces that retook Kayts Island.

Kobbekaduwa was to have become the army chief in January and had been part of the government’s offensive against Tiger rebels since it began in 1983.