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8 civilians killed in Sri Lanka

V.S. Sambandan

COLOMBO: Eight civilians were killed and 14 injured in a mine explosion in Sri Lanka's LTTE-controlled section of the eastern Batticaloa district on Wednesday, the International Committee of the Red Cross said.

The LTTE blamed the Army for the attack; a charge denied by the security forces.

Wednesday's explosion is just ahead of a scheduled round of talks, between the Government and the LTTE on the functioning of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), in Oslo later this week.

The Tamil National Alliance's Jaffna MP, Suresh Premachandran, said the movement of commodities to the northern peninsula had been drastically reduced since the failed assassination attempt on Army Commander Sarath Fonseka.

"There has been a severe reduction in the supplies. There is a virtual ban on the movement of several commodities across Army checkpoints. We have urged the President, Mahinda Rajapakse, to look into the matter," Mr. Premachandran told The Hindu .

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