Three killed in northern Sri Lanka blast

At least three civilians were killed in a vehicle explosion in Sri Lanka's northern town of Vavuniya, police said Tuesday.

The blast occurred around 1:30 p.m. local time (0800 GMT), killing the driver of a van and a couple in a house where the van had been parked.

The van was produced by local police in the court having detained it over a month ago because of an accident.

Having obtained the release from the court the driver parked the van near a house and the van exploded minutes later, police said.

Sri Lankan police in recent weeks have arrested a few vehicles laden with explosives allegedly by the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The arrest of such explosive laden vehicles have led to island wide surprise checks on vehicles causing huge traffic snarls.

The defense authorities appeal to the public to bear the inconvenience as such checks have become necessary in view of the military clashes between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) rebels and the government troops in the troubled north and east.

Source: Xinhua