At least 26 people were killed and 64 injured on Wednesday when suspected LTTE rebels blew up a bus packed with school children as a series of clashes left another 20 dead in Sri Lanka, where the government formally ended a tattered ceasefire with the guerrillas.

The deadly bus bombing took place in Buttala, about 240 km southeast of Colombo. The roadside claymore mine “targeting the bus exploded at 7.40 am,” military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said, adding it was followed by another explosion.

One survivor told the Defence Ministry officials that the militants “remorselessly shot” at people who were jumping out of the bus following the blast.

An armoured military vehicle was damaged in the second blast in the same area in which three soldiers were injured, Nanayakkara said.

“Everyone who got out through the doors, were shot and killed,” said a 25-year-old passenger, who gave his name as Sampath. “I jumped from the window and escaped.”

The violence highlighted the insurgents’ ability to hit deep in government territory and stoked fears that the official end of the truce would lead to even worse violence.

President Mahinda Rajapakse condemned the attack as “unmitigated brutality”, and said although it was timed to coincide with the government’s official withdrawal from the cease-fire, it simply mirrored other attacks by the separatist group in recent months.

“This is a brazen demonstration to the whole world of its unchanged commitment to terrorism and the absolute rejection of democracy and all norms of civilised behaviour in the pursuit of its unacceptable goal of separation,” he said in a statement.

... contd.