COLOMBO, March 30 (Reuters) - Tamil Tiger mortar bombs killed 8 civilians, including two young children, and wounded 18 in Sri Lanka's restive eastern district of Batticaloa overnight, the military said on Friday.

"They have fired at two villages. Only in the morning we have entered the area and we found 8 people killed, including a 1-1/2-year-old and 7-year-old, both of them girls," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe.

The Tamil Tigers were not immediately available for comment.

The attack was the latest in a series of deadly incidents this week, including the Tiger's first-ever air strike near the capital, a suicide rebel attack on an army base and a naval battle the navy said killed over 20 insurgents.

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