10 Sri Lankan Soldiers Killed by Mine Amid Rise in Attacks

A mine destroyed a truck Tuesday in northern Sri Lanka, killing 10 soldiers as escalating violence threatens the island’s cease-fire.

The soldiers had gone on leave and were heading to an airport when the mine exploded outside Jaffna, about 185 miles north of the capital, Colombo, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.

“We now have confirmation that 10 have died and four are wounded,” he said, blaming the Tamil Tiger rebels.

“Who else can do that?” he said. The rebels want to set up a separate homeland for the country’s 3.2 million ethnic Tamils in the northeast.

The government and rebels agreed to a truce in 2002, but violence has escalated in Sri Lanka’s north and east since rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran last month threatened to resume his struggle for an independent homeland.

The fatalities Tuesday brought the total of Sri Lankan security personnel killed this month to 43.

The attack followed the killing Monday of two suspected rebels by Sri Lankan soldiers in the east, where a pro-rebel parliament member was assassinated Sunday.

Harry Goonetilleke, a retired air force commander and a top defense analyst, said the recent string of attacks could lead the country back into civil war.

“They are trying to provoke the military and draw them into open hostility,” Goonetilleke said.

Though the cease-fire has held, peace talks have stalled because of disagreements over the Tigers’ demands for broad autonomy in the northeast.

The Tamil Tigers started fighting in 1983, claiming discrimination by the majority Sinhalese. The conflict has killed about 65,000 people.