COLOMBO -Two bomb attacks on buses in Sri Lanka killed at least 22 people yesterday, security officials said, in the latest assault by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels on the transport system.
Twenty people were killed and 64 wounded when a roadside bomb exploded during morning rush hour near a crowded bus in the capital Colombo, the military said. Later, an explosion hit a bus in the central town of Polgolla, killing at least two and wounding 20 others, police said.
The government blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the blast in Colombo, as well as other attacks on urban areas that have increased since the military began a new push against rebel territory.
Yesterday's blasts come two days after the military blamed rebels for a bomb attack on a railway track that wounded 27 civilians in Colombo.
The rebels, who are fighting for an independent state in the north and east, were not immediately available for comment but usually deny such attacks. More than 70,000 people have been killed since civil war erupted in 1983.
A Reuters witness said the bus targeted in Colombo was shredded by shrapnel and the floor was covered in blood and debris.
"I was on my way to the office and suddenly I heard a loud explosion and saw people screaming with blood all over," said Aruna Wickramarachchi, a 45-year-old hotel worker, whose leg was injured in the explosion. She was among about 100 bus passengers.
An official with the police bomb disposal unit, who asked not to be identified, said the roadside bomb was detonated by remote control.
The military said fresh fighting in the northern districts of Jaffna, Vavuniya, Polonnaruwa and Mannar on Thursday killed 17 rebels and five soldiers. Fighting between the military and the LTTE has intensified since the government formally pulled out of a six-year-old ceasefire pact in January, though a renewed civil war has been raging since 2006.
Analysts say the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of fighting, given its superior air power, strength of numbers and terrain captured in the island's east. But they still see no clear winner on the horizon. - (Reuters)