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TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka : At least ten people were killed and many more wounded when a powerful bomb exploded late Friday in eastern Sri Lanka, a day before crucial local elections in the area, police said.
The blast occurred inside a crowded cafe in Amapara town, they said in a statement, adding that the bombers' exact target was unclear.
"Ten bodies have been taken away from the scene. There may be more dead," a police officer told AFP, adding that at least 28 had been wounded.
The attack came despite heavy security on Sri Lanka's east coast as residents of Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Amapara prepared to vote on Saturday to elect the eastern provincial council.
The polls, the first in the region for 20 years, follow government troops taking control of the eastern part of the country from the Tamil Tiger rebels last July.
The election is seen as a litmus test for President Mahinda Rajapakse's hawkish government as it escalates the war against the rebels to regain vast swathes of land under guerrilla control in the north.
"This is another cowardly attempt of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to disrupt normalcy in the area as the government (is) scheduled... to establish democracy in the eastern province," the defence ministry said after the bombing.
Tens of thousands have died since the Tamil Tigers launched a campaign for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east.
Rajapakse is hoping the elections will deliver a show of public support despite concerns about the human and economic costs of the latest round of fighting.
The polls will be the largest to be held in the coastal regions of Amapara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee since the government dismantled Tamil guerrilla strongholds in the area after heavy fighting last year.
Since then, Colombo says it has been trying to win the "hearts and minds" of the east's "liberated" Tamils -- a strategy it wants to take to the rebel-held north.
Although the eastern province is described as being under full government control, LTTE cells still operate.
The government pulled out of a tattered truce with the LTTE in January, leading to a spike in a war that has left tens of thousands dead since 1972.
Colombo has poured a record 1.5 billion dollars into the war effort this year, hitting people's pockets at a time of high inflation and rising food prices. - AFP/ms
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