Blast rocks Sri Lankan capital

An explosion in Sri Lanka’s capital Colombo today killing four people injuring about 20, police and hospital officials said.

The blast in Colombo’s Slave Island area killed one soldier and three civilian passers-by, said military spokesman Brig Udaya Nanayakkara.

Twenty people were taken to the Colombo National Hospital with injuries as a result of the blast, said Anil Jasinghe, a doctor at the hospital.

Mr Nanayakkara said Tamil Tiger rebels were suspected of detonating the bomb, which had been planted opposite a small hotel and was targeting a bus that was heading to the hospital with soldiers who had been wounded in battles with the insurgents.