Colombo blames LTTE for blast

COLOMBO: The Sri Lanka government on Monday blamed the LTTE for the explosion in the national capital targeting an army bus in which four persons were killed and said that the Tigers had “shrewdly” planned the attack to inflict maximum damage on civilians while passing it off as an attack on a military target.

In a statement, the Defence Ministry said that four persons including two schoolchildren and a mother were killed when the LTTE carried out a “cowardly bomb blast targeting civilians and an army bus in Colombo.” One soldier, who was travelling in the bus, was also killed in the explosion.

The claymore bomb was triggered right opposite the Infant Jesus Roman Catholic church at Slave Island. “The bomb was apparently placed under an external unit of an air conditioning unit of Hotel Nippon. The explosion was triggered off as the army bus and another public bus were passing the location. The bus was carrying unarmed soldiers who are undergoing specialised treatments for various illnesses.”

A total of 24 persons including 14 civilians and 10 soldiers suffered injuries. Besides, the building of the church and a few vehicles were damaged in the explosion.

Meanwhile, air force fighter jet planes claimed to have pounded a LTTE supply centre at Alampillai in Mullathivu in the north on Wednesday afternoon and said it was completely destroyed. However, the LTTE alleged that the air raids hit civilian settlements.