COLOMBO, May 1: A navy soldier and six civilians were killed on Monday and nine others seriously injured in three separate LTTE attacks in the northeast, the military said.

Four Tamil civilians and one navy personal were killed in a claymore mine explosion in the eastern Trincomalee town while two Sinhalese were killed and three others seriously injured in Weli Oya, a Sinhala village bordering the northeast, military spokesperson Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said.

Three navy personnel were seriously injured in the Trincomalee attack, the military said.

Three soldiers have also been injured in the northern Jaffna district when Tiger guerillas lobbed grenades at them, sources said. A top government official said that despite the steady momentum in the violence they await a positive response from the LTTE about the resumption of peace talks.