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LTTE to blame: Rajapaksa

COLOMBO: Twenty civilians were killed and 80 injured following an explosion in a passenger bus at the Dambulla bus stand in the central province of Sri Lanka on Saturday morning.

The Government blamed the LTTE for the attack. There was no response from the Tigers to the charge.

It is the third major carnage involving civilians since the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) between the Sri Lanka Government and the LTTE was formally ended on January 16.

In the last few days there has been a sharp escalation in the killings of civilians as well as fighting between the forces and the Tigers.

In a condolence message on the bus attack, Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa termed it as a desperate act by the Tigers in the face of defeats inflicted on them by the military and appealed to the people not to be provoked by such acts of repeated brutality.

A statement by the Defence Ministry said the blast at Dambulla occurred in a privately owned bus proceeding from Kandy to Anuradhapura around 7 am.

The explosion took place as the bus entered the bus stand. Many among the dead and wounded were on a pilgrimage to Anuradhapura City.

In his message Mr. Rajapaksa said the attack “shows the reality of the struggle we have to face to eliminate terrorism from our country. I call upon the people to remain calm and refuse to be provoked by this repeated brutality by the LTTE, which in its desperation in the face of defeats inflicted on them by the Security Forces, is eager to create a backlash to their terror, to obtain the sympathy of the international community.”

“In the face of such grave provocation, the people of Sri Lanka must be aware of the many forces that are attempting to obstruct the efforts of the government to eradicate terrorism from our country, and halt the success of the Security Forces in this task today.

“These repeated acts of unmitigated brutality must bring to the attention of the entire civilised world the nature of the terrorist threat that is faced by Sri Lanka, and that it is only the most brutal and politically bankrupt movements that are capable of continuing with such acts.”

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