SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka says rebel blast on bus kills 16

Record ID: 359348

  • Title: SRI LANKA: Sri Lanka says rebel blast on bus kills 16
  • Date: 3rd April 2007
  • Summary: EXTERIOR OF HOSPITAL VARIOUS OF INJURED PATIENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhala) INJURED MAN K.M.SIRISENA SAYING: "I was overtaking the bus on my motorcycle when I heard a loud explosion. My wife, my child and I were thrown to the side. My child and wife were not injured. I was bleeding from my arm." NURSE HOLDING BABY (SOUNDBITE) (Sinhala) INJURED WOMAN H.D. DEEPIKA SAYING: "We we
  • Embargoed: 18th April 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Sri Lanka
  • Country: Sri Lanka
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA8QIKBHFONLW44GL9IFGBXUGJR
  • Story Text: Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers bombed a civilian bus on Monday (April 2), killing 16 people, mostly women and children, military officials said, but the rebels denied involvement.
    The government condemned what it called a "cowardly terror" attack, which took place in the eastern district of Ampara, taking the death toll from a rash of incidents overnight in the north and east to 33.
    An official at the Media Centre for National Security said that of the 16 deaths, 11 were women, two were boys and three were adult males. He added that about 25 others were wounded.
    "I was overtaking the bus on my motorcycle when I heard a loud explosion. My wife, my child and I were thrown to the side. My child and wife were not injured. I was bleeding from my arm," said K.M. Sirisena, who had been hospitalised.
    "We were about to get off the bus at the checkpoint when there was a loud explosion. When I regained consciousness I was bleeding from both legs. I could not get up. I dragged myself out of the bus," added H.D. Deepika.
    The official added that the bomb was planted inside the bus, and said that Tamil Tiger rebels were responsible.
    The attack took place on a day when Sri Lanka's mostly Buddhist Sinhalese majority were marking a full moon holiday with visits to temples.
    The military earlier said troops killed at least eight Tiger fighters in a series of mortar bomb exchanges in the northwest on Sunday (April 1), and accused the Tigers of shooting dead two political activists in northern Vavuniya and a civilian on the Jaffna peninsula.
    Each side, separately, accused the other of shooting dead six ethnic Sinhalese civilians who were building a post-tsunami housing scheme in the eastern district of Batticaloa on Sunday (April 1).
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