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COLOMBO (Reuters) - Sri Lankan police opened fire to quell mobs that set fire to shops and houses in the central tea-growing region after an argument between two men from the Sinhalese and Tamil communities, police said on Thursday.

Two bodies were found in the majority Sinhalese country's lush Nuwara Eliya region, 113 miles east of Colombo, and a curfew was imposed and the army called out to boost security after riots involving more than 1,000 people late on Wednesday, police said.

"They set fire to Sinhalese-owned shops and caused damage to police vehicles. Houses were also burned," Nuwara Eliya Deputy Inspector General of Police Wimal Ariyaratna told Reuters.

"Police tried to stop it without shooting, but we couldn't. Two bodies were found at the scene. We don't know how many are injured because they are afraid of police arrest if they come for treatment," he said.

The identity of the dead was not immediately known.

Sri Lanka has been mired for two decades in a civil war that pits the majority Sinhalese government against ethnic minority Tamil rebels fighting for a separate state in the north and east.

The central hill country region has been largely left out of the war, with the Tamil community there -- most of whom are tea plantation workers -- considered different because of their Indian origin.

Tea brokers said the unrest had no impact on the crop.

A truce has held for more than two years between the government and Tamil Tigers, but it was an anti-Tamil riot in 1983 that plunged the country into the full-scale war that has cost 64,000 lives.

Ariyaratna said the situation was calm by morning.

He said the confrontation began after an accident between a Sinhalese-owned bus and a Tamil-owned three-wheeler on Wednesday escalated into violence fueled by heavy drinking.    Continued ...

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