Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels killed two sailors Saturday in a roadside bomb attack in Sri Lanka's volatile east, the military said, a day after the air force bombed three rebel naval bases deepening a crisis that threatens to return the country to all-out war, the Associated Press reported. The Saturday morning blast targeted a naval foot patrol in northeastern Trincomalee, where the Sri Lankan military has a major naval base, said navy spokesman, Commander D. K. P. Dassanayake. The explosion killed one sailor on the spot and wounded another who later died in a hospital, Dassanayake said. Elsewhere, the army and rebels exchanged artillery and mortar fire overnight, wounding one soldier, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said on Saturday. «They fired at three of our camps,» in the north and in the east, he said, adding that the army retaliated with mortar fire. He had no information about rebel casualties, and there was no immediate comment from the rebels about either incident.
