Sri Lanka violence flares

MINE explosions killed five troops yesterday, and police found five decapitated bodies dumped in a rubber plantation, as violence that has pushed Sri Lanka to the brink of civil war showed no signs of letting up.

Authorities said it was too soon to say whether the beheadings were sectarian killings or gang warfare, but one Tamil leader accused security forces of involvement.

This week’s bloodshed, including two days of government air strikes against rebel positions and a suicide bombing in the capital, poses the most serious threat yet to a 2002 truce between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels seeking a separate state in the north of the country.