Sri Lanka Army soldier is among the dead on New Year's Day

Four people died in Ampara district, and three in Batticaloa district.

Some of the civilians were said to be from the ethnic Sinhalese majority and some were Tamils.

Police in Ampara and the relatives of the victims accused Tamil Tigers of carrying out the attacks.

There are no details as to who carried out the attacks in Valaichchenai, police said.

In further violence, the Sri Lankan military say suspected Tamil Tiger rebels detonated a roadside bomb killing two policemen and wounding another as they drove past in a jeep in the northern district of Vavuniya.

A soldier was killed and another wounded by a bomb as they were on foot patrol in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

Fighting between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the Sri Lankan security forces has intensified despite a 2002 ceasefire.

More than three thousand people have died in the unrest in the last year.