By Xinhua
Colombo : At least 15 people were killed and 23 injured as a civilian bus was caught in a Claymore mine explosion in Sri Lanka’s north central district of Anuradhapura Wednesday evening, said the military.
Defence officials said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels detonated a roadside bomb around 8.15 p.m. (1445 GMT) at Abhimanpurathe, about 250 km northeast of the capital Colombo.
The bus was full of passengers when the explosion happened, the officials said, adding that exact deaths and casualty figures were yet be known.
Among the killed are 12 men and three women.
Last year, in June, more than 60 passengers were killed in a similar Claymore explosion in the area.
The attack came only a week after Colombo was hit by twin explosions with 22 being killed and nearly 40 injured.
The government arrested more than 2,500 people in and near Colombo after last week’s explosions to beef up the security of the capital, although most of them had been released.