Roadside bomb kills five, wounds 28 in Sri Lanka capital
COLOMBO (AFP) — Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a powerful roadside bomb in Sri Lanka's capital Wednesday, killing five people and wounding 28 others, police and hospital officials said.
The powerful Claymore mine -- a fragmentation bomb packed with ball bearings -- targeted an army bus transporting wounded soldiers, but hospital officials said most of the victims were civilians.
The military retaliated with several air attacks inside rebel-held territory in the north of the island, defence authorities said, adding that two senior Tamil Tigers had been killed.
However, the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said only two civilians were wounded in the air attack.
The bombing in Colombo on Wednesday was the second high-profile attack in the capital in as many days. Prominent opposition Tamil MP Thiagarajah Maheswaran was killed by an unknown gunman as he prayed at a Hindu temple Tuesday.
Maheswaran, of the United National Party, was a vehement critic of the government's escalating war against Tamil Tiger rebels and a campaigner for the rights of Tamils in the Sinhalese-majority island.
The United States, a key backer of Sri Lanka's government, condemned both attacks, calling on all parties to "seek a negotiated, peaceful settlement of the conflict," according to a statement released by the US embassy here.
A police official at the scene of Wednesday's blast said five people were killed -- three died instantly while two died en route to Colombo National Hospital.
Hospital spokeswoman Pushpa Soysa said the facility had received four bodies.
"A total of 28 people are receiving treatment. We are holding three of them in the intensive care unit," she told AFP.
Hospital director Hector Weerasinghe said most of the killed or injured were civilians -- with just one soldier reported killed and 11 hurt.
The mine, planted at the Nippon hotel in Colombo's commercial Slave Island area, where the military has several key installations, went off as the army bus drove by, police and witnesses said.
There were no reports of any foreigners among the casualties, but two foreign nationals staying at the low-budget Nippon were evacuated to a state-run hotel, the tourism ministry said.
"It was a roadside bomb," a police official at the scene said. "It appears to be an explosive device weighing six to seven kilos (13 to 15 pounds) and set off by remote control."
Sri Lanka's defence ministry blamed Tamil guerrillas, who have frequently used roadside bombs in their decades-old war for an independent homeland in the north and east of the island.
The attack comes amid renewed heavy fighting in the north, and after Sri Lanka's top military commanders vowed to push for victory against the LTTE this year.
"LTTE terrorists have carried out a cowardly bomb attack targeting civilians and an army bus carrying sick personnel," the defence ministry said in a statement.
It said the mine had been placed inside an air conditioning unit facing the main road outside the hotel, which suffered extensive damage. Some of its staff were among the wounded.
Police and troops cordoned off the scene as forensic experts began sifting through the wreckage and rubble strewn across a four-lane highway.
Army engineering units, the air force headquarters and the police VIP security unit are located in the Slave Island area, where a section of the road opposite the Nippon is closed at night as part of tight security measures.
A similar roadside bomb killed 16 people on December 5 in the north-central district of Anuradhapura. Another 19 people were killed in a bomb attack outside a clothing store in the Colombo suburb of Nugegoda on November 28.
