Colombo: The Sri Lankan military on Monday accused Tamil rebels of slaughtering six Sinhalese rice farmers working in their fields to provoke race riots between the two ethnic groups.
In other violence, after coming under attack the Government troops shot and killed two ethnic Tamil rebels, the Defense Ministry said.
The latest bloodshed is part of an upsurge in violence that has left at least 77 people dead in April, 40 of the dead were soldiers, placing the country's four-year-old cease-fire in jeopardy.
The rebels last week backed out of the latest round peace talks that were scheduled to start on Monday in Geneva, citing attacks on ethnic Tamil civilians and other disputes with the Government.
The army on Monday identified the bodies of the six found in the northeastern Trincomalee district the day before.
''With the sinister motive of triggering communal clashes, LTTE terrorists brutally gunned down six innocent Sinhalese farmers who were in their paddy fields,'' the army said on its Web-site.
The statement also said, ''LTTE terrorists appeared to be now resorting to these types of senseless killings with the intention of provoking the Sinhalese community for a repetition of ethnic clashes.''
Earlier, the police had said the bodies bore multiple cut wounds, not gunshot wounds.
In the eastern region of Batticaloa, rebels allegedly triggered an anti-personnel mine on Monday while Government soldiers were clearing a route ahead of a trip by military vehicles, said military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe.
''After the attack, our troops retaliated, killing two terrorists. One soldier was wounded, and troops seized one anti-personnel mine and hand grenades,” Samarasinghe said.
The rebel campaign was triggered by anti-Tamil riots in 1983 that followed the killing of 13 Sri Lankan soldiers in northern Jaffna.
On Sunday, Government troops shot and killed three rebels in two separate incidents, also in Trincomalee district.
Trincomalee, 215 kilometers (135 miles) northeast of the capital, Colombo, has a strategic port. The Government controls the town, but the rebels operate from the outskirts and jungles.
The Tamil Tigers demand a separate Tamil homeland and accuse the Sinhalese-dominated Government of discrimination.
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