By P.K. Balachandran, IANS
Colombo : A powerful bomb ripped through a passenger bus in central Sri Lanka killing at least 20 people and injuring 50 Saturday, two days before the country marks its 60 year of independence.
The blast took place in a bus parked at the main bus stand at Dambulla, nearly 150 km northeast of Colombo, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told IANS.
The bus was on its way from tea-growing Kandy in the central hills to the Buddhist pilgrimage town of Anuradhapura in the north.
Sri Lankan officials blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the blast.
“Unable to face military pressure in the north, the LTTE is targeting civilians in other areas,” one official said.
Dambulla is a major tourist, religious and agricultural centre. It is strategically located on the main road between Colombo and Trincomalee, a major naval base and oil storage centre on the eastern coast.
Dambulla is known for its large and well-maintained painted caves, going back to ancient Buddhist times. It also boasts of a state-of-art international cricket stadium. The town supplies vegetables to Colombo and other towns in southern Sri Lanka.
Sri Lanka, where a Tamil separatist campaign raging since 1983 has left around 70,000 dead, has been rocked by a series of bus bombs since December.
There have been blasts near Madu in the northwest, at Kebetigollewa in the north-centre and at Buttala in the south, killings scores of innocent men, women and children.
The LTTE has been blamed for these killings. The Tigers have not responded to the allegations but in the case of the explosion in Madu area in Mannar district they blamed the government. The dead there included 18 school children.
Attacks on civilians have been taking place as the Sri Lankan armed forces mount pressure on the LTTE in the rebel strongholds in the north.
The military operations in Mannar, Jaffna and Vavuniya have made incremental progress in terms of territory gained.
Army chief Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka has said that the goal of the military was not to grab territory but to draw the Tigers out and kill the guerrillas in an unending war of attrition.
He has claimed notable successes, saying the LTTE’s manpower was being seriously eroded.
Clashes between the LTTE and government troops have particularly escalated since Colombo scrapped a six-year truce Jan 16.