By Xinhua,
COLOMBO : At least 28 people were killed and 45 others reported injured when a female suicide bomber from the Tamil Tigers blew herself at an refugee rescue center in northern Sri Lanka Monday morning, the military said.
The blast happened on Monday at around 11.30 a.m. local time (0600 GMT) at the North of Visuamadu in Mullaittivu. A few military personnel are also said to be among the casualties reported, officials from the Ministry of Defense said.
Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said he is still checking the exact number of casualties of the explosion.
Security forces immediately cordoned off the area, while medical units were rushed to the site.
The military said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out the attack targeting the civilians in reprisal, for defying LTTE’s orders to take-up arms.
The government accuses the LTTE of using the civilians as human shields in the present military clashes.
The female suicide bomber had arrived mixing up with the civilians who were seeking protection with security force. The bomber had blown herself before being screened, the reports further said.
The civilians have begun to leave the war zone as the military gained territory from rebel control.
The government has urged the rebels to allow free movement for some 120,000 civilians. The international aid agencies say some 230,000 civilians were trapped in the battle zone when the conflict escalated.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has lost most of its strongholds as a result of the government’s military offensive started in July 2006.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of Sinhalese dominated governments, the LTTE has been fighting for more than two decades to carve out a Tamil homeland in the north and east for the minority Tamils.
More than 70,000 people have been killed so far in Asia’s longest civil war.