In another incident, unidentified gunmen shot a Tamil woman and seriously wounded her husband.

An army officer was killed and seven soldiers were injured when an anti-personnel mine exploded in Welikanda.

The army vehicle they were travelling caught up in the blast,Brigadier Daya Ratnayake in Welikanda said.

"LTTE has carried out this claymore attack using remote control equipement",Brigadier Daya Ratnayake said.

Six of the injured seven soldiers admitted to Polonnaruwa hospital were later airlifted to General Hospital, Colombo

In Vavuniya, suspected rebels detonated a mine near a military patrol in Devakulam, killing one soldier in the morning.

In the afternoon army truck was caught up in a claymore mine at Marakkarampali killing two army soldiers. Another four soldiers injured in the explosion.

In Trincomalee unidentified gunmen shot and killed Kanthasamy Nallamah, and seriously wounded her husband Pasupathipillai Kanthasamy. The motive for the killing was not known.