SRI LANKA: A roadside bomb kills 24 people and wounds dozens in Sri Lanka

Record ID: 359280

  • Title: SRI LANKA: A roadside bomb kills 24 people and wounds dozens in Sri Lanka
  • Date: 17th January 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) COLOMBO, SRI LANKA (JANUARY 16, 2008) (REUTERS) SRI LANKAN DEFENCE SPOKESMAN KEHELIYA RAMBUKWALLA ARRIVING FOR NEWS BRIEFING JOURNALISTS waiTING (SOUNDBITE) (English) LABOUR MINISTER AND DEFENCE SPOKESMAN KEHELIYA RAMBUKWALLA, SAYING: "The position of the government has not changed. The position of the government will not change on the basis that it was not done on
  • Embargoed: 1st February 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sri Lanka
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA89514XN4CZE7JXVZNFR980RVM
  • Story Text: A roadside bomb kills 24 people and wounds dozens in Sri Lanka, as a six-year ceasefire between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels formally expires.
    A roadside bomb tore through a Sri Lankan bus killing 26 people and wounding dozens on Wednesday (January 16), officials said, as a six-year ceasefire between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels formally expires.
    The Ministry of Defence said a large number of schoolchildren were on the bus at the time of the blast in the central district of Moneragala, around 150 miles (240 km) east of the capital Colombo.
    Hospital officials said they were treating seven children for minor injuries while a 14-year-old girl who suffered a head wound was flown to Colombo and was in intensive care. They said no children were killed.
    Schools in the surrounding province of Uva were temporarily closed following the attack, which the military blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
    The bus attack, in the town of Buttala, was the latest in a series of roadside bomb attacks blamed on the rebels, who are fighting to create an independent state in the island's north and east.

    "The position of the government has not changed. The position of the government will not change on the basis that it was not done on an ad-hoc basis or on flimsy grounds," said Government defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella.
    The Defence Ministry posted photographs of blood-soaked corpses of some of the victims on its Web site. Local television broadcast footage of the bus, showing bloodstains on the floor and personal belongings strewn inside and out.
    A second blast targeted an army armoured personnel carrier 12 miles (20 km) south of the first attack, wounding three soldiers, the military said.
    A 2002 ceasefire, which broke down on the ground two years ago, formallylater on Wednesday after Rajapaksa's government announced a fortnight ago it was scrapping the pact, triggering fears that the fighting will worsen.
    Rambukwella said the military's aim was to eliminate shadowy rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran as part of a declared plan to defeat the rebels by the end of the year.
    Nordic truce monitors, who the government have asked to leave the country, say both sides repeatedly violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement.
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