Grenade blast wounds 7 suspected rebels in Sri Lanka prison

COLOMBO (Reuters) -- A hand grenade blast inside a prison in eastern Sri Lanka wounded seven prisoners, most of them suspected of being allied with the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, police said.

"There has been an explosion inside Batticaloa prison. Seven people have been injured and admitted to Batticaloa hospital," police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara said.

"All of them are Tamils, and most of them are suspected of LTTE (rebel) activities."

The elite Special Task Force police paramilitary unit found a second grenade, he said.

Sri Lanka's government has been locked in a 25-year civil war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who want to create a homeland for the minority ethnic Tamil people in the north and east of the Indian Ocean island nation.

(Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Valerie Lee)