New Delhi, Jan 30, IRNA ,Seventeen civilians, including 11 children, were killed in a claymore attack on a school bus in Mannar district.
The territory is held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
The military and the LTTE blamed each other for the tragedy. The forces did not operate in the area. “The blame for the attack on the military is a cheap propaganda tactic by the Tigers cornered in the battlefield”, an Indian english daily reported here today quoting Sri Lankan military spokesperson.
A statement by the LTTE, posted on its website, claimed that 18 people, including 11 children were killed, and 17 children and teachers injured in the attack by the “Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka military.”
“All the passengers in the bus were either schoolchildren or teachers returning from a sporting event. Among those killed were two teachers and the school principal. One of the teachers killed is a Catholic nun. The attack took place one km from the Madhu shrine on the Madhu Thadsanamaruthamanu road. The school children are from Thadsanamaruthamanu and Chinnappandivirichchan,” it said.
The pro-LTTE TamilNet claimed that 12 of the 17 wounded were in a critical state.
“Officials at the Mannar Operations Command of the LTTE said they had spoiled a number of attempts by DPU teams to infiltrate and place claymore mines along the roads within the past three months.” Meanwhile, separately, the military claimed that 22 LTTE cadres were killed in continuing clashes along the forward defence lines (FDLs) during the day.