Suspected Sri Lanka rebels bomb police bus, 11 dead

COLOMBO, Jan 31 (Reuters) Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels bombed a police bus in east Sri Lanka today, killing 11 people, the military said.

The attack outside a university in the restive Batticaloa district comes after the government vowed to wipe out the Tigers militarily, a remark analysts say could start a new chapter in the two-decade-old civil war.

''A Claymore (fragmentation mine) attack in front of the Eastern University in Batticaloa has blasted a bus carrying police personnel going on leave,'' a military spokesman said.

Six policemen, two soldiers and a civilian were killed and 13 people injured. Two more bodies were yet to be identified, officials said.

They said rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had sprayed gunfire after the incident before fleeing.

The Tigers were not immediately available for comment.

Today's attack follows the army's capture earlier in January of a key eastern Tiger stronghold that analysts say has emboldened the government to try to end the conflict on the battlefield rather than at the negotiating table.

It also comes after two naval attacks this month blamed on the Tigers. Observers fear the government is underestimating the rebels' military capability.

The foes have ignored repeated outside calls to halt fighting and resume peace talks.

Sri Lanka's new foreign minister, Rohitha Bogollagama, said that while Colombo remained committed to the peace process it would crush ''terrorism'' by the LTTE.

''If it's a terrorist movement you can't encourage it. If you can't encourage it you must eliminate it,'' he told a news conference in New Delhi, India.

''We are fairly strong to look at the terrorist aspect ... if they are strong, then let us see how strong they are,'' he said after talks with Indian leaders.

SOUTHERN CONSENSUS? President Mahinda Rajapakse's government clinched a majority in parliament on Sunday when 25 opposition MPs defected to its ranks and Bogollagama said this would boost consensus in the Sinhala majority south to push for peace with the rebels.

''The LTTE will be encouraged with the type of consensus now that has emerged in the south,'' he said.

Foreign donors called on the government this week to come up with a devolution package to defuse the conflict, saying that increased defence spending and ruined lives were choking the economy and the island's development.

The Tigers say they do not trust the government, and have resumed their push for an independent state. Analysts expect a war that has killed more than 67,000 people since 1983 -- and around 4,000 in the last year alone -- to deepen.

Interpol said today it had issued an international arrest warrant for the leader of the Tigers' feared naval wing, but prospects of an actual arrest look bleak.

The international police agency has issued arrest warrants for a string of senior Tigers in recent years, including the group's shadowy rebel leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

REUTERS SP PM2222