Colombo – The navy thwarted an attempt by rebels to carry out a mid-sea suicide attack off north-eastern Sri Lanka, killing all five insurgents, a military spokesman said Monday.

He said the attackers posing as civilians fleeing the rebel-controlled areas of Mullaitivu, 390 kilometres north-east of the capital, were in a dinghy coming along with three other boats carrying civilians when they were detected.

In a shocking development, a 12 year old girl student died and 27 others were hospitalized after being administered a shot of Rubella vaccine in Sri Lanka's Matara district.

The girl, Piyasala Hansani, died at his school St. Thomas' Girls School, about 160 km south of the capital Colombo.

It can be recalled that nearly 300 students of the school were given vaccine after which some students had fallen ill and were admitted to the hospital.

Colombo - Government troops have cornered the Tamil rebels in an area of 24 square kilometres in northern Sri Lanka, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said Thursday.

"We have eliminated terrorism from most parts of the country and will be able to report that terrorism has been eliminated from the entire country within days", Wickremanayake told parliament.

Geneva - An aid worker was killed in the conflict area in northern Sri Lanka, the humanitarian organization CARE International said Wednesday.

R. Sabesan, aged 24, worked for CARE and was hit in a shelling Tuesday in the so-called no-fire zone. He later died of his wounds as he was unable to access medical care, the aid group said.

"The toll this war is taking on civilians is devastating," said Nick Osborne from CARE in a statement. "Humanitarian workers trapped in the conflict zone are just as much at risk as anyone else."

Colombo - Sri Lanka's opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who signed a Norwegian-backed peace deal with Tamil rebels as the country's prime minister in
2002, is under pressure from his own party to step down, local newspapers said Wednesday.

A section of lawmakers from the opposition United National Party (UNP) Wickremesinghe to step down.

Senior party members are to meet Wednesday night for discussions on the issue.