Sri Lanka

Colombo train station blast kills at least eight

Article published on the 2008-05-26 Latest update 2008-05-26 16:30 TU

Map of Sri Lanka
(Map: Geoatlas/RFI)

Hospital officials in Colombo say that eight bodies have been recovered, among them five women. They say that more than 72 people were being treated for injuries, mostly for burns. Sri Lanka's military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, blamed  Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the attack.

State television said about 200 people were on board the train at the time of the bombing, at Dehiwela railway station in the southern suburbs of Colombo during the evening rush-hour. Over the weekend, three bombs were found on commuter buses near the capital and defused. Police had warned bus and train passengers to be on the alert. Colombo has been hit by a string of bombings against both civilian and security targets in recent months. The authorities suspect that the Tamil Tigers are responsible for all of them. The rebels have not commented so far. Fighting has escalated in Sri Lanka since the start of the year, when the government pulled out of a Norwegian-brokered truce with the LTTE. Since then, both sides have traded allegations that each others' forces are targeting civilians. Last week, the LTTE accused an army unit of killing 20 Tamil civilians in fragmentation mine attacks in the north. Such allegations are regularly followed by bombings in the south. Dehiwela railway station has been the target of bombings in the past. In July 1996, more than 70 people died when two bombs went off on a train at the station. On the northern front lines, near Tamil strongholds, ground battles between government forces and the LTTE continued to rage. The defence ministry said 21 guerrillas and one soldier died in the latest clashes on Sunday. It also said air force helicopter gunships were active in the north on Monday, providing support to ground troops moving deeper into the rebel-held region of Mannar.