Bus bomb kills 23 as Sri Lanka ceasefire ends

A bomb ripped through a packed bus in Sri Lanka today, killing 23 people as the government officially withdrew from a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels.

The blast, the latest in a string of attacks in government-held territory in recent months, struck the bus in the remote town of Buttala, about 150 miles southeast of the capital Colombo.

It was unclear if the bomb was on the bus or planted by the roadside, a military spokesman said.

In addition to the 23 killed, 67 people were injured, he said.

Senior Superintendent Daya Samaraweera, a local police official, said the blast was caused by a roadside bomb and it was followed by a volley of gunshots fired at the bus.

The Sri Lankan Cabinet’s unanimous decision to end the ceasefire deal was criticised by peace mediators and foreign governments as a move that would make it even more difficult to end the decades-old conflict.

In the two weeks since the government notified officials from Norway, a key broker of the 2002 agreement, that it would end the ceasefire today, more than 300 people have been killed in violence along the front lines in the north, according to military figures.

The military announced yesterday that 29 Tamil insurgents and three soldiers were killed in fighting in recent days. The Tamil Tiger rebels said 30 soldiers and three rebel fighters were killed.

The Tamil Tigers have been fighting since 1983 for an independent state for Sri Lanka’s ethnic Tamil minority in the north and east after decades of being marginalised by Sinhalese-dominated governments. The fighting has killed more than 70,000 people.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has said he abandoned the ceasefire because it was not working and the rebels used it as cover to build up their military strength. At least 5,000 people have been killed since the ceasefire was signed.