Bomb rips through bus full of elderly pilgrims in Sri Lanka

A bomb tore through a packed bus carrying mostly elderly Buddhist pilgrims today in central Sri Lanka, killing at least 18 people and wounding 51 others, the military said.

The blast inside the bus occurred at 7am in Dambulla, a town about 150km (90 miles) north-east of the capital, Colombo, said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, blaming separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.

More than 700 people have been killed in intensified violence since the government withdrew from a cease-fire with the guerrillas last month.

Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not immediately be reached for comment. The group, listed as a terror organisation by the US and European Union, routinely denies responsibility for attacks against civilians.

Bus driver Rohana Wijesiri said he was taking about 100 passengers, mainly elderly Sinhalese women, to the holy city of Anuradhapura.

“When we were passing Dambulla there was a huge blast and the door near my seat got blown away,” Wijesiri said.

The top and sides of the bus were ripped apart in the force of the blast. A severed hand could be seen among the blood-stained bags, glass and other debris strewn several meters (yards) from the vehicle.

“I do not remember what happened next, but I was running on the road. I saw my conductor fallen on the ground. He too got up and started running with me,” Wijesiri said.

“As it (the bus) came near me, I heard thunder. I got thrown away,” said Kankeaarachige Michael, a 52-year-old businessman, who was standing by the road when the blast occurred.

“When I saw blood gushing out of my body, I realised it was a bomb,” Michael said at Dambulla Base Hospital where he was being treated. Michael lost an eye in the blast.

Nanayakkara initially said 20 people had died in the blast, but he later changed the official toll to 18 after gathering more information.

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

Most Sinhalese are Buddhists while most Tamils are Hindus. There are Christians in both ethnic groups.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa warned Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese not to be provoked by the attack.

The rebel group “is eager to create a backlash to their terror, to obtain the sympathy of the international community,” Rajapaksa said in a statement.

The Tamil Tiger movement only gained momentum after anti-Tamil riots in 1983, sparked by the killing of 13 Sinhalese soldiers in a rebel attack. Sinhalese mobs subsequently killed hundreds of ethnic Tamils, and looted and burned their homes, prompting disgruntled Tamil youth to join the separatist campaign.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence over the past month with three attacks on passenger buses killing dozens, including many schoolchildren.

On January 16 a roadside bomb attack by suspected rebels on a bus near the south-eastern town of Buttala killed 27 people. Last Tuesday 18 people were killed in a similar bus attack in the rebel-held north.

Dozens of other civilians were found hacked and shot to death in the south-east, and a mass grave was discovered with 16 bodies killed execution style in a north-central village.

The government and rebels blame each other for attacks against civilians.