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Death toll rises to six from Sri Lanka bus blast, 70 injured

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Death toll rises to six from Sri Lanka bus blast, 70 injured

AFP

The death toll from a bomb attack on a packed bus outside the Sri Lankan capital Colombo rose to six with 70 others injured, officials said Saturday, blaming the blast on Tamil Tiger rebels.

The blast late Friday ripped through the passenger bus carrying 80 people near Nittambuwa town as it travelled on the Colombo-Kandy highway during the evening rush hour."This is the work of the LTTE," military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarsinghe said, referring to the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is battling for an independent Tamil homeland in the island nation..

There was no immediate comment from the rebels. The two-kilogram (4.4-pound) time bomb had been fixed to a seat in the bus, which burst into flames following the explosion, officials said. The initial casualty toll had stood at five dead and 50 injured. Among the dead was one child. "The bus was full of passengers at the time of the blast," said Samarsinghe..

The explosion was near Colombo, an area not usually prone to rebel attacks, and came amid four straight days of government air raids against rebel positions in the island's north. "These are signs of desperation in view of the defeats they (the Tigers) have faced recently in the battlefield," said defence affairs spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella..

The two sides have been ignoring a truce in place since February 2002, with more than 3,500 killed in tit-for-tat fighting in 2006.Police said a curfew imposed in Nittambuwa immediately after the bus blast was lifted Saturday morning. In fresh violence Saturday, the military said rebels detonated a Claymore fragmentation mine targeting a military road patrol in Nallur in northern Jaffna peninsula, injuring two civilians..

Meanwhile, the government said it would pay compensation over civilian casualties from an air raid Monday on Tamil Tiger territory in the north. The LTTE accused the air force of killing at least 20 civilians, including children, and injuring 30 more by staging air strikes using Israeli-built Kfir jets north of Mannar, 312 kilometers (193 miles) northeast of the capital..

"We have approved 100,000 rupees (925 dollars) for each of the dead and 50,000 (460 dollars) for the wounded," Resettlement Minister Abdul Risath Bathiyutheen said.The government denied they had been targeting civilians and said the raids were staged after careful surveillance. The latest violence came after both President Mahinda Rajapakse and the LTTE wished for peace in their New Year messages."We hope the New Year will bring the long awaited genuine and sustainable peace," Rajapakse said, while the Tigers called for global backing for their "sincere effort to seek a permanent peace through a just political solution".The conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972..

http://www.virakesari.lk/vira/html/head_view.asp?key=3622

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