 A mine blast in northern Sri Lanka killed three government troops Wednesday, after the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels ruled out direct talks with the president to try preventing a return to full-scale civil war. The anti-personnel mine exploded in the government-held town of Vavuniya on the frontier with rebel-held territory. The area's police chief, Gamini Silva, said two soldiers and one policemen were killed. "The mine was detonated through a remote control device as government troops were returning to an army camp after checking and clearing roads in the area," Silva told The Associated Press by telephone. Vavuniya is 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of the capital, Colombo. The blast came a day after the Tamil Tigers, or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, rejected pleas from Buddhist and Catholic priests to hold direct talks with Sri Lanka's president to prevent the island nation from sliding back into all-out civil war. |