Colombo: The Sri Lankan army today cautioned against possibility of explosions by tiger rebels posing as ice-cream vendors while 18 rebels were killed in clashes in embattled north of the island nation.

A police officer also lost his life in a mine explosion this morning in northern Vavuniya, it said.

"Terrorists have now resorted to new tactics like posing as ice-cream vendors to transport explosives", Military Spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Citing intelligence reports, Nanayakkara said that LTTE cadres were planning to smuggle in explosives by concealing them in the ice-cream boxes fixed to bicycles.

Meanwhile, continuing with its offensive to flush out rebels, the Sri Lankan army engaged in heavy artillery at a gathering of LTTE militants detected in the Pallaimodai area in North-west of Vavuniya last evening.

Army radio monitoring units have revealed that four LTTE cadres were killed in the incident, the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS) said in a statement.

In Jaffna peninsula, at least 13 tiger rebels were killed in Killali, Nagarkovil and Muhamali area yesterday in confrontations with the army, the defence ministry said.

In a separate incident, troops launched an attack using Artillery on a LTTE tractor yesterday, it said adding LTTE communication intercepts confirmed that four militants were injured and the tractor damaged.

Meanwhile, one LTTE militant was killed during a confrontation in the North-western Mannar yesterday, the ministry said.
Source : PTI