THE Sri Lankan government, under intense pressure to prevent civilian deaths, said yesterday it would immediately stop air strikes and artillery attacks, but rejected calls for a ceasefire in its war against the Tamil Tiger rebels.

An explosion has rocked the Sri Lankan capital Colombo, the country’s military said today.

A female suicide bomber blew herself up at the main railway station in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo today, killing six people and wounding 95 others, the military and a hospital official said.