By DPA
Colombo : Security has been beefed up as Tamil rebels are targeting civilians with the latest attack killing 15 bus passengers and injuring 23 others in north central Sri Lanka, authorities said Thursday.
A passenger bus heading from the north central town of Anuradhapura hit a claymore mine Wednesday night at Abimanapura, 220 km north-east of the capital. Most of the passengers were Sinhalese, Sri Lanka’s majority community.
The attack, which came a week after rebels set off a powerful explosion in a crowded junction in Colombo that killed at least 20 civilians and injured 43 others, prompting authorities to step up security on buses and trains.
“We are taking maximum precautions in buses and told the staff to be extra vigilant at bus stations to prevent the LTTE planting any bombs,” a Transport Board official said.
However, passengers are afraid that rebels may try to carry out more attacks in the south to distract the security forces involved in military operations in the north.
Tamil rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been bombarded in recent months by aerial attacks and have lost bases as well as their political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan.
Some of the schools have pushed up the Christmas holiday and closed earlier than scheduled due to security concerns.
Wednesday’s blast took place in a remote village, which has little security to prevent rebels infiltrating and planting mines.
In June last year rebels set off a similar claymore mine in the adjoining Kebithigollewa village, killing 64 civilian passengers on a bus.
Tamil rebels killed five farmers in the same district less than two weeks ago and last month killed five other civilians in a village in southeastern Sri Lanka.
Meanwhile, fighting has escalated in the north over the past three months, claiming more than 700 lives. The death toll in the last two years now exceeds 5,600.
More than 70,000 have been killed since 1983 when the rebels began fighting for an independent homeland for the Tamil minority in northern and western Sri Lanka.