The Sri Lankan police said Thursday that at least five students, two teachers and 51 others have been arrested in connection with the investigation on a roadside explosion which killed 11 people in eastern Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

Maxi Procter, the police chief at Batticaloa, 329 km east of here said that all arrested are being detained for further questioning.

Altogether some 600 people had been quizzed over the claymore mine explosion on a bus traveling from Batticaloa to north central town of Polonnaruwa at around 11:40 a.m. local time (0610 GMT) on Wednesday.

The bus was carrying police and army personnel going on leave when it hit the claymore mine blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels opposite the Eastern University.

Six army soldiers, four policemen and one civilian were among the dead while 13 others were injured.

The police said that gun fire had emanated from within the university premises immediately following the blast and some 43 spent bullets of T56 rifles had been discovered from the university premises.

The arrests came as the Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Hans Brattskar travelled to the LTTE held north to have talks with the rebels.

The Norwegian ambassador's visit aimed at facilitating talks between the government and the rebels came after last month's major military victory recorded by government troops against the LTTE in the east.

Vakarai, a rebel stronghold for over 10 years fell into military hands dealing a blow to the rebels.

Over 30,000 civilians were displaced in the area after the clashes began early October.

The Norwegian peace facilitation has been put on hold in view of the growing escalation of the conflict with over 3900 people being killed since the beginning of December 2005.

Source: Xinhua