Sri Lanka

Bomb blast at Tamil refugee camp

Article published on the 2009-02-09 Latest update 2009-02-09 15:53 TU

Medical staff and army soldiers with a suicide bomb victim in Vishvamadu, northern Sri Lanka
(photo:Reuters Sri lanka)

The Sri Lankan military says a female suicide bomber detonated her explosives on Monday outside the camp near Visuamadu, an area recently captured by the army. Twenty soldiers and eight civilians were killed in the attack, says the army. Forty people are reported injured in the attack as the government claims to be on the point of a conclusive victory.

Army spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara has blamed the attack on the Tamil Tiger rebels. "The attack is aimed at slowing down the army's advance," he says, and that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam face "imminent defeat".

The suicide bomber blew herself up on Monday as she was being searched by soldiers outside the camp near Visuamadu, a northern area the military recently captured from the rebels.

In addition to the 28 people killed on the spot, dozens of injured troops were rushed to hospital.

The LTTE rebels have been fighting for some three decades for an independent homeland after political attempts for Tamils to have equal opportunities in the Sinahalese-majority country. Recently the army has made significant territorial gains during a big army offensive.

Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu of the Centre for Policy Alternatives in Colombo, the Sri Lankan capital, says he thinks the Tamil opinion in Sri Lanka has always been in favour of power-sharing within a united Sri Lanka, and that the government has an historic opportunity to seize for a political settlement. 

As many as 22,000 Tamil civilians have poured out of the small northern jungle area still under control of the LTTE, in the past few days according to military sources. The authorities in Colombo say as many as 100,000 people are still under the rebels' control.

The pro-rebel Tamilnet.com described the civilians in the refugee camps as detainees of the Sri Lankan Army.

Some of the camps were visited at the weekend by the Pope’s emissary, Bishop Mario Senario.  The bishop conducted a special mass on Sunday St. Mary’s church in Jaffna, and said at the end of the mass that he would convey in detail the plight of the Tamils caught in the war in Vanni to the Holy See. 

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has led international calls for a "temporary no-fire period" to allow more civilians to evacuate the combat zone.