Three trucks blow up inside police compound in Sri Lanka, 60 killed

Three trucks carrying explosives blew up inside a police compound in eastern Sri Lanka Friday, killing at least 60 people in what the military called an accident.

The blast occurred in Karayinadaru, about 50 km from the eastern port of Batticaloa and in an ethnically mixed area controlled by the Tamil Tiger separatists until 2007.

"Sixty people inside the police station have been killed. Most of them are policemen," military spokesman Major-General Ubaya Medawela said, Reuters says.

Thyagendra Senthuran, a doctor at Chenkalady hospital near the blast site, said he has received 15 dead bodies and 20 wounded people, many with severe head wounds.

"Still we are receiving bodies," he said.

Lakshman Hulugalla, a government spokesman, ruled out any possibility of sabotage, saying, "It is an accidental explosion."

The site of the blast, Karadiyanaru, is a small town in the former conflict zone in the east, according to The Associated Press.