The Red Cross says two of its employees were kidnapped and shot dead in Sri Lanka.
A Red Cross official Sunday said the bodies of two ethnic Tamil aid workers were found Saturday in Ratnapura. The men had been abducted from a railway station in the capital, Colombo, on Friday, as they waited for a train to take them home to eastern Batticaloa.
In separate violence, Sri Lankan military officials say Tamil rebels attacked a key military post in northern Vavuniya district late Saturday, killing 10 soldiers and wounding 20 others.
The military says it repulsed the assault and inflicted heavy casualties on the rebels.
Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama Sunday stressed that the government wants to negotiate with the rebel Tamil Tigers and bring an end to the armed conflict.
He also urged foreign governments to prevent Tamil rebels from using their territories or waters to procure and smuggle weapons.
Bogollagama made the comments at an Asian security conference in Singapore, where he highlighted recent cases of rebel-controlled ships acting in waters off India and the Maldives.
Fighting between Sri Lankan government forces and separatists has killed more than 5,000 people over the past 18 months.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.
