By Buddhika Weerasinghe

GALLE, Sri Lanka, Jan 8 (Reuters) Lying in a hospital bed, his neck bandaged and tears in his eyes, Sri Lankan student Mohamed Aknas is not only afraid of suspected Tamil Tiger bombers -- but also his ethnic Sinhalese neighbours.

The 19-year-old was heading to a tutorial on Saturday to prepare for school exams when a blast tore through his bus on the island's southern coastal road, killing 11 people and wounding dozens. It was the second deadly bus attack in as many days.

As he and other survivors scrambled away from the wreckage of the blast -- initially suspected to be a suicide attack but since ruled out -- the Tamil-speaking Muslim and his friends were encircled by angry majority Sinhalese and punched.

''After the bomb attack myself and my friends ran ahead. At that time we were talking in Tamil. Then Sinhalese village people surrounded us and hit me and my friends,'' Aknas told Reuters from his hospital bed in the historic southern port town of Galle. ''They blamed us and called us Tamil terrorists.

''We said we are Muslim and speak the Sinhala language, but they damaged my note books and punched me,'' he added. ''I am afraid ... Tamil is our language. Is it wrong to speak it?'' Police have detained 24 people for questioning over Friday's attack and 9 people over Saturday's, but no one has yet been charged.

Sri Lanka's government accuses the Tigers of trying to foment an ethnic backlash between minority Tamils and Sinhalese in the south as a new chapter in a two-decade civil war deepens, and has called for public restraint.

The island's Muslims, who make up about 8 percent of the population, say they are caught in the middle.

The Tigers deny any hand in the attacks, but the military dismisses the denial as routine and analysts say the blasts bear all the hallmarks of the rebels.

TOURISM SETBACK The military ruled out a suicide bombing in the second attack after 29-year-old port authority worker Sumith Rathnayake identified the remains of his badly mutilated grandmother.

''I'd like to join the army and support the war against terrorism,'' Rathnayake said. ''So many civilians are being killed ... We are talking peace but every day Sinhalese people are being killed. It is enough.'' On Friday, a bomb placed beneath a passenger seat blew up a bus north of the capital, killing six civilians.

Analysts fear rebel attacks, which have largely been confined to military and political targets during a new episode in the island's two-decade civil war, may now increasingly target civilians as in earlier stages of a conflict that has killed more than 67,000 people since 1983.

The bus attacks are another setback for the island's tourism sector, still struggling to recover from the 2004 tsunami and the impact of renewed conflict.

''After this kind of bomb attack I am fearful even fewer tourists will visit the south,'' said Thilak Chandrala, who manages the Sun Shine Inn in the popular southern beach resort of Unawatuna. ''Even we are afraid to travel by bus.

''Without permanent peace, no one will want to come here,'' he added. ''We don't know how to keep the hotel open. Our income is falling by the day. The government needs to find a permanent solution to this conflict.'' More than 3,000 troops, civilians and rebel fighters were killed in a spree of ambushes, suicide bombings, air raids, naval clashes and land battles last year despite a 2002 ceasefire, and diplomats fear the violence will worsen this year.

REUTERS PDM HT1230