Blast in Sri Lanka kills 23, 67 wounded
Colombo,
Jan
16:
At
least
23
civilians
were
killed
and
67
wounded
when
a
powerful
bomb
went
off
inside
a
civilian
passenger
bus
in
Sri
Lanka's
Monaragala
district
this
morning,
defence
sources
here
said.
The
blast
took
place
at
Helagama
in
Buttala
DS
division
of
the
district,
Media
Centre
for
National
Security
(MCNS)
said.
Defence Ministry said that ''LTTE terrorists have exploded a bomb at Buttala targeting a public transport bus that was plying from Buttala to Okkampitiya this morning, claiming that the bus was traveling with a large number of school children at the time of the incident.'' Quoting police sources in the area, the Defence Ministry said that the bomb had been placed inside the bus.
The injured were rushed to Buttala and Monaragala national hospitals, a top government official said. The explosion coincides with the official termination of the February 2002 Norwegian-brokered ceasefire agreement between the government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tiger rebels.
A number of members of the international community have already expressed serious concern over the government's decision to unilaterally abrogate the truce deal with the rebels.
It was only yesterday that the visiting Japanese special peace envoy Yasushi Akashi expressed fears that such decision may lead to an increased level of violence and greater civilian casualties.
Urging strongly the ruling coalition led by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, to find a political solution to bloody ethnic conflict through negotiations, Mr Akashi said that that termination of truce deal with the LTTE may prompt the pursuit of a military solution of the conflict with dire humanitarian consequences.
UNI