Explosion in Lankan buses, 51 wounded, army kills 7 rebels

Explosion in Lankan buses, 51 wounded, army kills 7 rebels
ASSOCIATE PRESS

COLOMBO, FEBRUARY 7: Bombs exploded in two buses in southeastern Sri Lanka on Monday, wounding at least 45 passengers and six bystanders, the military and witnesses said.

The blasts in the town of Bibile, about 160 kilometers southeast of Colombo.

The first bomb went off early Monday in a bus station just as the state-run bus was pulling out, said Defense Ministry's spokesman Colonel Ranjith Witana. Bibile borders the district of Ampara where Tamils are in a majority.

The explosion damaged the rear of the bus and left at least 45 wounded, three of them seriously.

Six bystanders were injured in the second explosion inside an empty bus that had dropped passengers at the bibile bus station. An earlier report had said the second explosion occurred at Medagama 20 kilometers south of Bibile.

There was no claim of responsibility. Police have blamed the Tamil separatist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, for a stepped up campaign of bombings and assassinations in Colombo and areas outside the capital in the last few months.

On Thursday, three bombs ripped through buses, wounding 32 people on the eve of the Sri Lanka's Independence Day. The rebels have also been blamed for carrying out three suicide bombings in Colombo in December, killing 50 people and wounding president Chandrika Kumaratunga.