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Five policemen killed, 20 wounded in Claymore mine attack in Sri Lanka |
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May 31, 2000 nurse.
The mine exploded as a truck carrying a group of policemen left the northern town, said a police officer in Vavuniya, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Twenty-three wounded had been admitted to the local hospital and three of them died there, said a nurse reached by telephone. Two others were in critical condition.
Under a National Security Act now in force in Sri Lanka, police and government officials are barred from talking to reporters. The law is vague and anyone can be penalized under it for divulging information that the government may consider harmful to the national interest.
There was no claim of responsibility, but the police officer said the attack was similar to those carried out by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a Tamil separatist group fighting for a homeland for Sri Lanka's 3.2 million minority Tamils. The rebels often use Claymore mines.
Vavuniya, 210 kilometers (130 miles) north of Colombo, is the last major town before the northern battle zone, where government forces are fighting an advance by the rebels.
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