Fuelling fears of a return to civil war, suspected Tamil Tiger rebels killed 10 soldiers in the island's far north today in the second mine attack in less than a week, the military said.
The blast followed a string of guerrilla ambushes on the military and the assassination of a pro-rebel member of parliament at a Christmas mass that are straining a 2002 truce to breaking point.
"It was a claymore attack," said military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe, referring to the claymore fragmentation mine used in the assault near the northern town of Point Pedro.
"Definitely the LTTE is behind this attack," he said, using the initials of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. "No-one else is capable of doing this kind of claymore mine attack in Jaffna except the LTTE."
A military official said four other soldiers were admitted to hospital after the attack, some in critical condition.
On Friday, 13 sailors were killed in an ambush by suspected Tiger rebels using claymore mines and rocket-propelled grenades in the island's northwest.
That prompted major aid donors Japan, the European Union and Norway to send a delegation for emergency talks with the Tigers.
Two days later, Joseph Pararajasingam, a member of parliament for the Tamil National Alliance -- the rebels' proxies in parliament -- was assassinated at a Christmas mass in the eastern district of Batticaloa.
In a separate incident on Tuesday, British demining organisation the Halo Trust said armed men overpowered guards at their Jaffna compound and stole two four-wheel-drive vehicles.
Military sources said the men, who have not yet been identified, also stole 45 mine detectors, 45 uniforms, two laptops and seven sets of walkie-talkies.