Colombo

All rounder Sanath Jayasuriya claimed his 300th one-day wicket to help Sri Lanka to a five-wicket victory in the second one-day international on Monday. Sri Lanka cruised to an unassailable 2-0 lead in the three-match series after Bangladesh’s batsmen continued their disappointing form by being bowled out for 137 in 46.5 overs.

All rounder Sanath Jayasuriya claimed his 300th one-day wicket to help Sri Lanka bowl out Bangladesh for 137 in the second one-day international on Monday. Jayasuriya claimed four wickets for 31 runs from 9.5 overs to become the ninth player in ODI history to take 300 wickets.

Sri Lanka pace bowler Lasith Malinga claimed four for 25 as Bangladesh collapsed to 62 for nine on the first morning of the second Test on Tuesday. Malinga ripped through the Bangladesh top order with the new ball after captain Mahela Jayawardene won the toss and chose to bowl first.

Bangladesh slumped to an innings and 234-run defeat in the first test on Thursday with Sri Lanka spinner Muttiah Muralitharan claiming a match haul of 9-102. Bangladesh’s top order had resisted bravely on the third day but collapsed spectacularly at the start of the fourth, losing their five remaining wickets in just 4.4 overs.

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels attacked a police commando truck with a roadside bomb on Monday just south of the capital Colombo, killing seven civilians and wounding 36 other people, the military said. Monday’s bombing came just days after suspected Tigers targeted an army bus near the entrance to Colombo port.

An upsurge of violence in the conflict between Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lankan government forces has claimed up to 45 lives in the past 24 hours, although an exact toll has not been confirmed. The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam claimed they killed at least 35 sailors and lost four of their own men in an attack on a naval facility.

Sri Lankan troops killed nearly 40 Tamil Tiger rebels over the past week, the military said on Friday, after a spate of clashes in the island’s war-ravaged north and east. ”There have been several confrontations. There are 38 confirmed dead in the past week, but we think the number could be higher,” said military spokesperson Prasad Samarasinghe.

Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lankan soldiers held a truce as their national side marched to the cricket World Cup final, but sentries were forced to miss the match to keep a keen lookout, officials said. ”There were specific instructions to maintain a high alert and ensure that men who were on duty remained in their posts and did not scoot off to watch the match,” a military source said.

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels took their separatist campaign to a new level on Monday with their first air raid. Their aircraft may be small in size and number, but the daring night-time bombing mission on a key air force base beside Sri Lanka’s only international airport strikes a significant psychological blow.

Outgoing United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan was deeply critical on Tuesday of Sri Lanka’s warring parties, blaming both sides for the violence that has slowed rebuilding after the 2004 Asian tsunami. In a statement he said the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger rebels was making the reconstruction effort ”even more difficult”.

Sri Lankan navy boats destroyed seven Tamil Tiger vessels in a sea battle, killing at least 35 rebels, a naval spokesperson said on Saturday, as President Mahinda Rajapakse appealed for peace. Sri Lanka has seen a surge in violence in the past few months, raising doubts about the success of peace talks.

At least 67 people, including Sri Lankan navy sailors and some civilians, were killed when an explosives-laden truck driven by a suspected Tamil Tiger rebel rammed into their convoy on Monday. The attack near the town of Habarana, about 190km north-east of the capital Colombo was one of the worst suicide bombings in the troubled Indian Ocean island.

A year ago, Sri Lankan cricket was in crisis with their young players hampered by fragile confidence, dressing room disunity, selection squabbles and political problems within the national board. However, their fortunes have been revived under new captain Mahela Jayawardene, who has led from the front in recent months with a glut of runs and moulded the team into a united force.

A Sri Lankan woman sprinter denied on Monday taking performance-enhancing drugs during the South Asian Games in Colombo last month, investigators said. Jani Chathurangani de Silva, a double medallist at the games, tested positive for the anabolic steroid nandrolone and was summoned before an official inquiry committee.

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels hacked 10 Muslim labourers to death and badly wounded another in eastern Sri Lanka at the weekend, the army said on Monday, the latest in a string of mass killings and abuses. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam blamed the killings, near the island’s Yala National Park, on the military.

Dozens of schoolgirls killed by the air force, Muslims massacred by Tamil Tiger rebels, civilians targeted by both sides. But with occasional fighting still erupting, physically finding the corpses is hard enough. Local populations have fled and finding witnesses is harder than at any stage during the four year truce.

Bomb-squad officers defused explosives strapped to a vegetable-laden pushbike at a market in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, on Tuesday, just hours after officials in the United States said they had arrested suspected rebel arms procurers. The bomb squad said suspected Tamil Tiger rebels had packed 15kg of explosives around a Claymore fragmentation mine.