Colombo: Three policemen were killed and three injured in two Claymore mine blasts set off by
suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in northeastern Sri Lanka on Friday as the Norwegian peace negotiators launched a fresh bid to save the endangered peace talks.
A police constable from the home guard unit was killed and another wounded in the initial attack at Seerunuwara village in Trincomalee district, police said. The attack triggered clashes between majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils and left at least five homes destroyed, they said.
Another police vehicle rushing to the area was caught up in another mine attack in which two constables were killed and two more wounded, they said. Tigers had also opened fire at the victims.
Meanwhile, the head of the Scandinavian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) traveled to the Tamil Tiger-held Kilinochchi today with a fresh proposal to end the impasse on the talks, diplomats said.
They said SLMM chief Ulf Henricsson would meet with the LTTE's peace secretariat chief S. Puleedevan today to try and resolve the transport issue that has held up the Geneva talks scheduled for April 24 and 25.
The Tigers insist that they want to transport some senior cadres from the island's east to the north for internal consultations before the Swiss talks. But Colombo turned down Tiger requests and the alternate sea transport was unacceptable to the Tigers.
Plan Implementation Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, who is also the government spokesman on the peace process and the military, said that Colombo had been "extremely flexible" and expected the Tigers to come to the table.
He said Henricsson would stay overnight in the town of Kilinochchi to meet with the political wing leader of the LTTE to bring a response to the government's latest offer of helicopter transport to the Tigers.
On Thursday, the Tigers said they were indefinitely postponing their participation in Swiss talks until the conditions in the troubled northeast were conducive for negotiations.
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