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| Sri Lanka |
| Colombo suicide blast kills 10 |
| 2008-05-17 |
| A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber rammed his motorbike into a police bus in the Sri Lankan capital on Friday, killing 10 people, the military and hospital authorities said. Doctors at the National Hospital in Colombo said eight policemen and two civilians were killed and more than 85 people were wounded in the blast, which happened in a commercial quarter of the capital near the Hilton Hotel. The area is a high security zone that is also the site of the Sri Lanka’s presidential office and military headquarters. The military blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack. The Tigers, who routinely deny involvement in such attacks, were not immediately available for comment. “The target was a police bus and a motorbike had crashed into the police bus,” said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. Fighting between government forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has intensified since the government formally pulled out of a six-year-old ceasefire pact in January, though a renewed civil war has been raging since 2006. Air raid: On Friday, Sri Lankan air force jets bombed rebel positions in the far north of the island for a second day running, the military said, adding ground troops had killed 33 rebel fighters over the past two days. The LTTE hasn’t commented on the latest clashes and independent confirmation of battlefield casualties is not possible because of lack of access. Both sides are known to exaggerate enemy losses. |
| Posted by:Fred |