Sri Lanka's military has attacked Tamil Tiger rebel positions after accusing the rebels of trying to kill the country's top military commander in a suicide bombing.
Officials say air and naval strikes were carried out in the northeastern district of Trincomalee.
Earlier Tuesday, a female suicide bomber pretending to be pregnant blew herself up inside the army headquarters compound in the capital, Colombo. She killed at least eight people and seriously wounded the army chief, Sarath Fonseka.
Nearly 30 other people were also injured.
The United States and the United Nations condemned the suicide bombing. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged Sri Lanka's government and the Tamil rebels to resume Norwegian-mediated peace talks.
The head of Sri Lanka's peace initiative Palitha Kohona says despite the military's retaliatory action, the government hopes the rebels will return to peace talks.
And an assistant U.S. secretary of state Richard Boucher says he expects the U.S., Japan, Norway and the European Union which serve as informal sponsors of the peace talks - to soon discuss ways of dealing with the latest violence.
