Killing took place again on Mondayin eastern Sri Lanka in a spate of violence which has hampered the early revival of the stalled peace process in the country.

A government soldier on a road patrol at Mankerni, north of Batticaloa, was injured when an unidentified gunman fired at him around mid day Monday.

The killing followed violence in the same areas on Friday and Saturday when two leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were killed allegedly by loyalists of the rebel renegade eastern commander known as "Karuna" and two army men suffered injuries due to a hand grenade attack.

Eastern Sri Lanka has been a hotbed of violence ever since Karuna broke ranks with the LTTE in March.

Karuna went underground one month later when his 6,000 strong men were unable to resist attacks by the mainstream rebel group coming from the north.

Violent killings between the two rival rebel factions and the LTTE's killing of its opponents, members of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) have become commonplace both in the east and in the capital Colombo since then.

The LTTE rebels launched their first suicide attack since ceasefire in February 2002 when a female rebel suicide bomber blew herself up early last month in Colombo in an attempt to kill EPDP leader Douglas Devananda who is also a government minister. Four police personnel were also killed in the suicide bomb explosion.

The government has called on the LTTE rebels to stop their killing spree, but the rebels blamed the government for refusing to discuss their self-rule blueprint and delaying the revival of the stalled peace talks.

The violence has caused concerns of the international communityincluding the Norwegian facilitators, the United States and the European Union.

The Norwegian facilitators has warned that the escalation of violence following the split in LTTE is the most dangerous since the ceasefire.

"There is no excuse for such violence, which can never resolve the internal differences in Sri Lanka," the EU said in a statement.

"Assassinations and suicide bombings are unacceptable. The recruitment of child soldiers must cease," the US embassy here said in a statement.

The LTTE rebels and the government started direct talks in September 2002, seven month after they entered the Norwegian-brokered ceasefire.

However, the rebels suspended talks in April last year after six-round of peace talks. All efforts made by the Norwegian facilitators became futile.

More than 64,000 people have been killed in the two decades of ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka since 1983.

Source: Xinhua