Tamil Tiger guerrillas are suspected to be behind a powerful bomb attack that killed the government troops and wounded about 30.

Meanwhile, 10 Tamil Tigers have been killed by the Sri Lankan military, according to the Ministry of Defense.

Attack on convoy

An explosion, apparently caused by a remote-controlled landmine, ambushed a military convoy as it headed north out of Batticaloa.

Sri Lanka correspondent Susannah Price: "No word on the attack by the Tamil Tigers"

The wounded were taken to the town's main hospital while the roads were sealed off to civilian traffic.

The condition of 17 of the wounded is said to be serious, according to Agence France Presse.

Friday's attack came six weeks after a similar ambush on an army convoy in Batticaloa in which nine policemen were killed and 30 injured.

That attack was caused by an explosive device hidden in a shop.

Batticaloa has a largely Tamil population and although it is under government control, the BBC's Colombo correspondent Susannah Price says that the Tigers are known to infiltrate it easily.

Tigers killed

Meanwhile, Sri Lankan soldiers shot dead 10 Tamil Tiger rebels in separate clashes overnight, the country's defence ministry said in a statement.

The clashes took place near the northern town of Jaffna, 300 km (185 miles) north of the capital Colombo.

Last week, the Tigers were blamed for the killing of 50 Sinhalese villagers east of Colombo.

In the first week of August, a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber with explosives strapped to his body killed himself and a senior army officer who was distributing food to civilians in Batticaloa district.

There was no reaction from the Tamil Tigers to the upsurge in attacks blamed on them by the government.

The LTTE is leading a prolonged campaign of violence for independence in the island's northern and eastern regions.