By IANS
Colombo : The Sri Lankan government Wednesday denied responsibility for the bus blast in the northwestern district of Mannar in which 11 civilians, including nine schoolchildren, were killed.
“The blast (Tuesday) took place in an area controlled by the LTTE terrorists. Our troops do not operate there,” said government defence spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella.
He told newspersons that the blast took place near St Mary’s Church in Madu, an area the Sri Lankan forces had been treating as “sacred” at the request of the bishop of Mannar.
“We have stuck to this assurance despite the fact that the LTTE has been moving in the Madu area freely, regardless of its sanctity,” Rambukwella said.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had said that a deep penetration unit of the Sri Lankan Army had set off a claymore mine targeting a school bus plying between Thachchanamarutha Madu and Madu town in the northwestern district of Mannar, killing 11 people – nine children and two teachers.
The government spokesperson objected to Bishop Royappu Joseph’s statement that the perpetrators of the crime could have been identified if only the Scandinavian truce monitors were there.
The monitors were withdrawn after the Sri Lankan government unilaterally abrogated the truce pact with the LTTE Jan 16.
“The bishop’s statement seems like an attempt to get the monitors back,” Rambukwella charged. “And at any rate, the truce monitors had no mandate to investigate and name perpetrators.”