COLOMBO: A well-known Catholic priest and human rights activist was killed in a wayside bomb explosion in the LTTE controlled northern areas, the Tamil Tigers said in a statement on Sunday blaming the armed forces for the killing.

The guerilla organisation said that Rev M.X. Karunaratnam, the head of North East Secretariat on Human Rights, was killed while returning from a Sunday service. It claimed that the bomb was detonated by government troops who had infiltrated into LTTE held territory to carry out the attack. Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nannayakkara denied the rebel statement.“ There is no truth in the accusation. It is a common tactic by the LTTE to blame the military for killings carried out by them,” Brig Nannayakkara said.