By P.K. Balachandran, IANS
Colombo : At least 13 people were killed and 21 injured in two separate bomb blasts in Sri Lanka as the island nation marked the 60th year of its independence from British rule under a blanket of security.
A powerful roadside bomb ripped apart a passenger bus at the Kobbekaduwa junction near Janakapura in the Weli Oya region in the northeast at about 3.15 p.m., killing 10 civilians and two soldiers, military sources said.
At least 18 people, including children, were injured in the deafening blast. They were rushed to hospitals in the region. All the victims were said to be from the majority Sinhalese community.
A little earlier, a roadside bomb targeted at an army tractor went off at the 45th milepost between Buttala and Kataragama in southern Sri Lanka, killing one soldier and injuring three others.
Buttala has seen a number of violent incidents, including claymore mine blasts, firing and stabbings in the past couple of weeks.
The defence ministry blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the killings in Weli Oya and Buttala.
Weli Oya is a Sinhalese settler enclave lying between the predominantly Tamil-speaking districts of Mullaitivu and Vavuniya. It was established and colonised with government aid in the 1980s after the local Tamil population was driven out. Its originally name was Manal Aru (Tamil for river of sand).
Wili Oya is, therefore, an eyesore for the LTTE, which has been trying to retake it for long but without success.
Weli Oya is strategically located between the north and the east. It is also home to a military base with thousands of Sri Lankan soldiers.
Monday’s violence came as the government clamped tight security across much of the country anticipating attacks on the occasion of the independence celebrations.
Around 70,000 people have been killed in a Tamil separatist drive raging in Sri Lanka since 1983. Violence has escalated in recent years, leading to the collapse of a Norway-sponsored ceasefire agreement signed in 2002.