At least three soldiers were killed and two others wounded in a powerful landmine attack in eastern Sri Lanka [Images] on Monday as Norway's peace envoy arrived in Colombo to save the tottering truce, officials said.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam carried out the attack in Batticaloa, a military official said. He said the soldiers were sweeping for mines along the road, when the blast took place.

With the latest attack, the number of people killed in fresh violence since December has gone up to 149.

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The explosion came as Norway's top peace envoy Erik Solheim reached Lanka in a bid to jump start the island's stalled peace process and salvage a troubled truce amid fears that the island could slip back to full-scale war.

Hours before Solheim landed at the island's only international airport, LTTE's London-based chief negotiator Anton Balasingham also arrived for the talks.

Solheim travels to the LTTE-held Kilinochchi on Wednesday for talks with LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

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The Norwegian-led truce-monitoring mission warned in January that war may not be far away and shut down operations in the northeastern district of Trincomalee for two days.

Solheim is also due to meet the visiting US Under Secretary for Political Affairs Nicholas Burns on Monday. The two are expected to exert pressure on the LTTE to halt their attacks and resume talks.

Burns will have no direct talks with the Tigers as they are banned by the US.

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