(BBC)- - At least 67 people have been killed in a suicide attack on a navy convoy in northern Sri Lanka, the military says.
Military officials told the BBC that they had counted the bodies near the town of Digampathana, near Trincomalee.
They say that at least 60 people - navy personnel and civilians - were injured in a "huge explosion" involving an "explosive-laden vehicle".
The blasts come amid renewed violence in Sri Lanka, with both the military and Tamil rebels taking heavy losses.
Correspondents say the violence could derail peace talks due to take place in Geneva, Switzerland, at the end of the month.
Wounded
"Suicide bombers drove a truck packed with explosives into the area where there were about 15 buses of sailors," a police official in the nearby town of Sigiriya told the AFP news agency.
"We have two helicopters to evacuate the wounded," the official said.
Another official told the Reuters news agency that 13 of the 15 buses had been damaged in the explosion, and that the dead and injured were being taken to a nearby hospital.
The blast comes shortly after Japan's peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Yasushi Akashi, met President Mahinda Rajapakse in the capital, Colombo.
It was the first of a number of new diplomatic efforts ahead of talks due between the government and the Tamil Tigers at the end of October.
At least 2,000 people have been killed in violence this year in Sri Lanka, the military and ceasefire monitors say.
Norway's peace envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, is due in the island on Tuesday. Richard Boucher, the US assistant secretary of state, is due on Thursday.
The diplomats will be hoping to help the government and the Tamil Tigers rebels reconcile their differences.
No details of the meeting between Mr Akashi and Mr Rajapakse have been released. Mr Akashi is due to meet senior Tamil Tigers in the north of the island later in the week.
Japan is one of the key international donors to Sri Lanka.
Trawler
There were more reports of violence over the weekend.
The military said the navy destroyed a trawler carrying arms off the island's west coast on Sunday, leaving at least five rebels dead.
Four civilians were also killed in northern Jaffna peninsula in three separate incidents, the pro-rebel TamilNet website said. In each case it says the shootings were carried out by unidentified gunmen.
At least three Sinhala civilians were reported to have been kidnapped and killed near the town of Vavuniya, 260km (160 miles) north of Colombo.
The United Arab Emirates acknowledged on Tuesday that two of its pilots were killed when their military aggression plane crashed over Jawf province, a military official said
The official added that the aggressive crashed plane was an apache that was
Artillery of the army and popular shelled a gathering of Saudi-paid mercenaries in al-Moqadra area in Serwah district of Marib province, a military official said on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, dozens of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed and others injured in Wadi al-Theek in the district, the official added.
The army and popular forces carried out on Monday unique military operations in Taiz province.
A military official said that a number of Saudi-paid mercenaries were killed at the hands of the army and popular forces in al-Jazami Hill in al-Kadaha area in al-Ma'afer district.
A Saudi aggression fighter jet targeted a citizen's car driving in Fara area of Kutaf district in Saada province overnight, killing the driver and injuring his friend, a security official said on Monday.
The army artillery and popular committees launched a fierce attack on Saudi-paid mercenaries' sites in Jawf province, a military official said on Monday.
The attack destroyed a military vehicle belonging to the mercenaries and killed all on board in Sabran area in khab and shaaf district.
Scores of Saudi enemy soldiers were killed and injured on Sunday when the army and popular forces repelled a Saudi military attempt to sneak into Shurfah site in the border province of Najran, a military official said.
The operation was accomplished successfully against the Saudi
The army and popular committees have killed a total of 18 Saudi-paid mercenaries in sniper operations over the past hours in the central province of Marib, a military official said on Sunday.
Ten mercenaries were killed in Nehm district and eight others were killed in Serwah district, said the official.
Saudi aggression warplanes have launched more than 49 airstrikes over the past hours on several residential areas across Yemen, a security official said on Sunday.
The airstrikes targeted the areas of Malahiz and Husama in Dhahir district, and areas Thuban, Masahif and Sdad in Bakim district of northern Saada province.
Sri Lanka convoy blast 'kills 67'
