The Sri Lankan government said Saturday that the Tamil Tiger rebels have killed a soldier and injured another in an attack on a military detachment in the Eastern Province.

The Defense Ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said that an observation post and an Army detachment at Selva Nagar in Trincomalee district came under LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) attack Saturday afternoon.

"Several rounds of mortar fire were directed at the Army. One soldier was killed and another was seriously injured in the attack, " said Samarasinghe.

In another incident the Tigers carried out a claymore mine attack against the troops at Neerveli in the northern Jaffna district, injuring a soldier and a civilian, defense officials said.

The government said in a statement that it strongly condemned such unprovoked attacks against security forces because "the LTTE made commitments at Geneva to uphold and observe the ceasefire."

The government and the LTTE are to meet in Geneva to discuss the ceasefire from April 19 to April 21 and the latest incidents of violence have raised doubts on the possibility of talks going ahead.

However, the Norwegian peace facilitators stated early this week that the talks would go ahead as planned.

The talks on the truce is aimed at eliminating violence and are expected to lead towards negotiations to end Sri Lanka's long drawn out separatist armed conflict.

Source: Xinhua