By Xinhua
United Nations : UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has condemned the recent suicide attacks in Sri Lankan capital Colombo, killing and wounding dozens of people.
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Ban condemned the attacks in Colombo Wednesday, which took place outside the Ministry of Social Services building in Nugegoda district, and offered his condolences to the families and friends of the victims.
At least 17 people were killed and 39 more injured in the attacks, Sri Lankan officials said.
The statement noted that the UN chief was also concerned about Tuesday’s aerial attack in the northern town of Kilinochchi, the headquarters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels, where the office of the UN World Food Programme was damaged.
“The secretary-general appeals for an end to the destructive spiral of violence in Sri Lanka and calls on the parties to the conflict to return to the peace process while making every effort to ensure the protection of civilians,” the statement said.
Sri Lanka has been locked in a civil war between the government and the LTTE rebels since the early 1980s, which has claimed the lives of more than 60,000 people and inflicted heavy economic losses on the otherwise prosperous country.
The LTTE rebels have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland in the north and east of the country while the government has offered the rebels the autonomy in the region under a unified central government.
Several rounds of peace talks between the two sides so far have failed to achieve any tangible result.