COLOMBO, June 1, 2006 (AFP) - An office of a Tamil political party was bombed in Sri Lanka's restive eastern province Thursday, wounding at least four people, the military said.

The office of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) came under attack in the town of Batticaloa, 303 kilometres (190 miles) east of here by road, on Thursday morning, a military official in the area said by telephone.

The military blamed the bomb attack on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but there was no immediate comment from the guerrillas who were outlawed by the European Union Monday as a terrorist group.

The blast came as US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian affairs, Richard Boucher, arrived here for talks with Sri Lankan leaders and businessmen on the island's troubled peace process.

Boucher stopped over in Colombo on his way from Tokyo where earlier in the week he attended a meeting of key international backers to review Sri Lanka's troubled peace process and urge the two sides to enter negotiations.

More than 600 people have been killed in an upsurge in violence since December despite a truce arranged and put in place by peace broker Norway in February 2002.

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