Colombo  - A female suicide bomber posing as a civilian entered a government-controlled area from the Tamil rebel-held area in northern Sri Lanka Monday morning and detonated herself at a welfare centre, killing several persons and injuring at least 60 others, the military said.

The explosion went off in the Visuamadu area, 360 kilometres north-east of the capital, where the military is receiving hundreds of civilians before they are sent to transit camps.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said that so far at least one soldier and several civilians have been reported killed and 60 persons, including some women, have been injured.

The incident came as fighting continued between government troops and Tamil rebels, in what the military described as the last phase of its long drive to defeat the Tamil rebels. (dpa)