Samarasinghe said two rebel locations were bombed after surveillance noticed that the insurgents were gathering at the two points.

It was not immediately known if the rebels suffered casualties.

Also on Tuesday, 17 people were hurt at an exhibition when a bomb on display exploded, a doctor and a military official said.

An anti-personnel mine accidentally detonated while officers were explaining to viewers how it works, said Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse, a senior Defense Ministry official.

``We are treating 17 injured persons, including two Buddhist monks and two police commandoes,'' said Dr. Hector Weerasinghe, head of the Colombo's main hospital. Two patients were in critical condition.

The exhibition, organized by the government to commemorate the country's 59th anniversary of independence, had stalls showcasing military equipment, explosives and weapons captured from separatist Tamil Tiger rebels. The exhibition was being held at the capital's main exhibition center.

Rajapakse said the explosion was not linked to the rebel insurgency. Over the last few weeks, security has been tightened in the capital with an increased troop presence on the roads due to Independence Day celebrations.

Meanwhile, Samarasinghe, the military spokesman, visited the scene of the explosion and apologized to the victims.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 to create the homeland. A 2002 cease-fire halted the open war, but last year saw increasing hostility with about 3,600 people dying in violence last year.

The government says it is willing to give limited autonomy in areas where Tamil live, but rebels want sweeping autonomy which the government says will infringe on the island nation's sovereignty. Discuss this story Published: Tue Feb 6 08:39:40 EST 2007

In a suo motu statement explaining the circumstances under which his party declared the Memorandum of Understanding with the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) as null and void, Mr. Wickremesinghe complained that the Government had disregarded the wishes of the people to achieve its narrow political objectives.

The UNP walked out of the October MoU inked with the SLFP after Mr. Rajapaksa inducted several defectors from the party into the Government. More... Discuss this story Published: Tue Feb 6 23:12:07 EST 2007

The legislators from the House of Representatives said in a letter to Bush that they were troubled by renewed violence and a rising number of deaths as well as a big increase in unsolved kidnappings across Sri Lanka.

"It is time for the United States to provide global leadership to help advance peace for the people of Sri Lanka," they said, according to a copy of the letter obtained by AFP from the office of New Jersey Democratic Representative Rush Holt (news, bio, voting record), who initiated the move.

In the letter sent to the White House last week, the lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle said the special envoy should be a high-level official with access to Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and a "clear" mandate to increase monitoring of human rights violations.

"We are writing to urge you to appoint a special envoy for Sri Lanka because we are deeply troubled by the ever-worsening situation on the ground there," they said. More... Discuss this story Published: Tue Feb 6 11:48:09 EST 2007