By IANS,
Colombo : At least six policemen and a civilian were killed when a suicide bomber riding a motorcycle rammed into a police bus in the heart of the Sri Lankan capital, officials said.
The deafening explosion occurred around midday near Hotel Hilton, opposite a popular Buddhist temple called Sambodhi Vihara, in the busy Fort area.
The defence ministry promptly blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the attack. A man in the area said the explosion was so massive that he first thought there had been a major earthquake.
The attack occurred hours before President Mahinda Rajapaksa was to swear in, at his office about 100 meters from the blast site, the newly elected members of the Provincial Council of the eastern province, which the military seized from the LTTE only last year.
At least 75 people were injured. All of them were rushed to hospitals.