Sunday, December 4 2005 20:20 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Colombo: Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels attacked a military convoy transporting food for troops in northern Sri Lanka today, killing six soldiers, taking the toll in the fresh upsurge of violence in the last three days to 10.

The soldiers were on board a tractor trailer taking food at Kondavil when it was hit by a landmine in the northern peninsula of Jaffna, 400 kms north of capital Colombo, it said.

Today's blast was the worst against government troops since they entered a truce with Tamil Tiger rebels in February 2002.

The Norwegian-led truce monitoring panel known as the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in a statement expressed concern over the latest upsurge in violence and urged the government and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to calm the situation.

"We urge them and all other community leaders to use their influence to ensure that violence and attacks come to an immediate end," the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission said in a statement.

"The SLMM warns that there is a real danger that these disturbances and hostilities can spread and result in irreparable deterioration of security and prevent any real restoration of normalcy in the affected communities."

There had been tension in the Jaffna peninsula after the killing of two Tiger rebels by unidentified gunmen on Friday. Suspected Tigers shot dad a soldier and wounded seven others last night in Jaffna in what appeared to be a retaliatory strike.

The LTTE has accused the Sri Lankan military of supporting a breakaway faction. The military denies the charges.

In the island's north-eastern town of Muttur district of Trincomalee, police today found three bullet-riddle bodies of Tamil civilians who had been taken away last night by Tiger rebels, police said.

They said a fourth man escaped with serious injuries and had been admitted to hospital.