COLOMBO, Aug 12: At 12 people have been killed in fresh violence across Sri Lanka's northern and eastern regions where a bitter ethnic war has raged for decades, military and Tamil rebel sources said on Sunday.

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a powerful land mine against a military patrol in the Jaffna peninsula Sunday, killing four soldiers and wounding at least 13 others, military officials said.

The defence ministry said a civilian was also among the wounded.

The guerrillas also shot dead a Tamil civilian in the market place in Jaffna Sunday, the defence ministry said in a statement.

Another civilian was killed and four others were injured when the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fired mortars at a village in Weli Oya, in the island's northeast on Sunday, the ministry said.—AFP