By C. Bryson Hull

COLOMBO, Oct 1 (Reuters) - Sri Lankan troops seized explosives aboard a truck due to join a U.N. convoy to carry food into the war zone, where fighting killed 30 poeple, the military said on Wednesday. Troops found 2.5 kg (5.5 lbs) of C-4 explosives in a truck carrying food into two strongholds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists on Tuesday. Police arrested the driver and five other assistants, the military said.

Pictures posted on the government-run Media Centre for National Security, www.nationalsecurity.lk, showed what it said were 10 plastic-wrapped packets of the explosives in a suitcase.

The United Nations said in a statement it "deplores the placing of explosives by an unkown party on a government agent truck due to join a U.N. convoy".

The convoy had been due to leave in the next few days.

The government last month ordered all aid agencies out of the north saying it could not guarantee their safety.

Diplomats successfully pressed to get permission for the U.N. to bring food aid to an estimated 200,000 people trapped in the war zone.

The military has moved to within 4 km (2 miles) of the LTTE headquarters town of Kilinochchi.

Air strikes early on Wednesday hit what the military said were a series of bunker hideouts and camps for female guerrilla fighters. Other fighting killed 26 rebels and four soldiers, the military said.

The LTTE could not be reached for comment.

It is difficult to independently verify battlefield reports, because the war zone is closed to most journalists and both sides routinely distort victories and losses to their advantage. (Editing by Jeremy Laurence)

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