SRI LANKA

Several dead in Sri Lanka blast

Saturday, February 2, 2008

A powerful bus explosion in the central town of Dambulla killed at least 20 people and injured dozens, the military said, blaming the blast on Tamil Tiger rebels. (Story by N. Rushworth)

Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a powerful bomb inside a crowded bus in north-central Sri Lanka Saturday, killing at least 20 people and wounding another 50, military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.
  
Six men and 14 women were killed in the attack in Dambulla, 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of Colombo, Nanayakkara said, adding that the wounded had been admitted to several hospitals in the region.
  
A hospital spokesman said there were no foreigners among the casualties.
  
The explosion ripped through the privately-owned bus parked at the bus station in Dambulla, 150 kilometres (93 miles) north of Colombo, police said.

"Thirteen people were dead on admission and three more succumbed to their injuries," a spokesman for the Dambulla hospital said, adding that 13 women were among those killed.

About 20 of the critically wounded were given initial treatment at Dambulla and transferred to two better equipped medical facilities in the region, the spokesman said.

The bus was taking Buddhist pilgrims from the central town of Kandy to north-central Anuradhapura town and had stopped at Dambulla to pick up more passengers.

Police cordoned off the blast site and an investigation was underway, a police officer in the area said by telephone.

"We suspect this is the work of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam)," the police officer said.

He said initial reports suggested that the blast may have originated inside the bus when it was parked at the bus station, a key transit point for people travelling in the region.

Tamil Tiger rebels set off a powerful suicide truck bomb in the same area in October 2006, killing at least 116 sailors who were heading home on leave.

Saturday's attack came as Sri Lanka stepped up security ahead of Monday's celebrations to mark the country's 60th anniversary of independence from Britain.

Authorities had warned of bomb attacks by Tamil Tiger guerrillas who are battling government forces in the north of the country where they maintain a de facto separate state.

There have been a series of bomb attacks in the country this year.

On Friday, a suicide bomber on a bicycle killed four people in the northern peninsula of Jaffna. The military blamed the attack on the Tamil Tiger guerrillas.

The rebels were also blamed for bombing a bus in the south of the island last month, killing 27 bus passengers and later killing another 10 civilians in a separate attack in the same area.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the majority Sinhalese nation since 1972 in a conflict that has left tens of thousands dead.

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