Sri Lanka bus blast leaves 24 dead
A bomb hidden on the baggage rack of a packed bus exploded today, killing 24 people at a bus station outside Sri Lanka’s capital, authorities said.
The military blamed rebels from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the blast. “This is definitely an LTTE act,” military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.
At least 40 people were wounded, he said.
The body of a Buddhist monk and a small child were brought to the morgue, and at least three other bodies were unrecognisable.
The blast erupted at the bus depot in the town of Piliyandala just south of the capital, Colombo, sending pieces of seats hurtling to the street, witnesses said.
The bomb was hidden in a parcel on the overhead rack near the front of the bus, Mr Nanayakkara said.
The roof of bus, which was about to depart for the nearby town of Kahapola, was torn apart and its windows – and those of nearby buildings – were shattered.
Saranga Sadara, who was covered in blood from helping the injured, said he was in a neighbouring bus when the bomb exploded.
“The whole place smelled of explosives, and debris was all over,” he said.
R B Dharmasiry, a driver, saw the lifeless body of a child as he ran to help the wounded.
“It is horrible, I saw many people laying on the ground,” he said.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan did not respond to calls seeking comment, but the Tamil Tigers routinely deny such attacks. The rebels, blamed for scores of suicide bombings and other attacks on civilians, are listed as a terror group by the United States, European Union and India.
The rebels have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for minority Tamils, who have been marginalised by successive governments controlled by Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the violence.
The attack was the first major bombing since a suicide bomber killed 14 people, including a government minister and a former Olympian, at the start of a marathon on April 6.
It was the worst bus attack since suspected rebels bombed a bus January 16 in the remote southern town of Buttala, gunned down the fleeing passengers and attacked nearby farmers as they retreated into the forest, killing 32 people.
The latest blast showed the rebels retain the ability to strike deep inside government territory despite government efforts to crush the group and the maze of security checkpoints erected around the capital to prevent such attacks.
In other violence, 17 rebels and four soldiers were killed in battles in the northern war zone yesterday, and air force jets hit a rebel camp this morning, the military said.
