Police are accused of deliberately targetting minority Tamils

The Special Task Force (STF) personnel were admitted to Ampara hospital.

Sarath Jayasundara, Senior Superintandant of Police (SSP) accused the Tamil Tigers of attacking the police petrol.

The LTTE carried out a similar attack two days ago, he added.

Search operation

Journalist Wasantha Chandrapala said his attempts to contact the LTTE were not successful as LTTE political office in Ampara has been closed since last week.

Meanwhile, the police have arrested 108 civilians in cordon operations carried out in Nuwara Eliya and Hatton.

National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (NHRC) said 21 people are still under custody in Nuwara Eliya pending further investigations.

Nimal Punchihewa, Director of NHRC, told BBC Sandeshaya that 18 Tamils and three Sinhala youths are among the detainees.

Increased violence

Further 20 people are detained in custody in Hatton, he added.

He said the minority Tamils feel the police are deliberately targeting them in their search operations.

But Inspector General of Police, Chandra Fernando, deny the accusation saying the operations are aimed at finding criminals.

International truce monitors and analysts feared another phase of civil war as violence escalated since December, last year.

Tamil Tigers are accused of killing nearly 70 Sri Lankan soldiers and sailors since President Mahinda Rajapaksa sworn in November 17.

Tamil Tiger supporters say more than 40 Tamils have been killed by the security forces in a series of attacks since the start of December.

Others blame some of those deaths on the rebels or other armed groups.