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Message: <blockquote data-quote="teron" data-source="post: 536523" data-attributes="member: 31121">Tamil rebels ambush navy base in Sri Lanka's north; bomb targets soldiers in capitalCOLOMBO, Sri Lanka: Tamil rebels ambushed a navy camp in northern Sri Lanka and said they killed 35 sailors early Thursday, while a bomb blast near an army bus in the capital wounded four soldiers and three civilians, the government said.The separatist Tamil Tiger rebels attacked the navy base at Delft in a flotilla of 15 boats, and navy sailors sank one of them in attempts to repulse the ambush, navy spokesman Commander D. K. P Dassanayake said.But the rebels swiftly overran the base and later found the bodies of 35 sailors, rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan told The Associated Press by telephone. He said four insurgents were killed in the assault."The fighting lasted only 20 minutes and we completely overran the camp," Ilanthirayan said, adding that the insurgents returned to their own base soon after the raid.The military did not immediately have details of the casualties in the attack, and the rebels' death toll could not be independently verified. The military and rebels routinely deny and contradict each other's casualty tolls.Today in Asia - PacificAsia courts Japanese engineersBlocked by U.S., China finds its own way to spaceU.S. and China open new round of economic talksLater Thursday morning in the capital, Colombo, a bomb exploded near a bus carrying soldiers, Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse at the Defense Ministry said.He said the bomb was fastened to a motorcycle parked by the roadside. Four soldiers and three civilian were wounded, he said.The violence occurred a day after the International Committee of the Red Cross announced that it has withdrawn personnel from two checkpoints between government-held and rebel areas in northern Sri Lanka because of escalating violence.On Wednesday, at least 15 people were killed in a roadside bomb and in clashes in northern and eastern Sri Lanka, the military said, in worsening violence that has shattered an internationally backed cease-fire.The rebels have fought the government since 1983 to create a separate homeland for the island nation's minority ethnic Tamils, who have suffered decades of discrimination under the Sinhalese-dominated government.Nearly 70,000 people have died in the conflict, including about 5,000 killed since December 2005, when violence flared despite a 2002 cease-fire that is now in tatters.<a href="http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/24/asia/AS-GEN-Sri-Lanka.php" target="_blank">http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/05/24/asia/AS-GEN-Sri-Lanka.php</a></blockquote>

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