Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tiger rebels denied involvement in Thursday’s bus bombing that killed at least 64 passengers and said the blast had been aimed at discrediting them.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rejected government charges that they carried out the morning attack near Kebitigollewa town in the North-Central Province and in turn pointed a finger at the government.
“The LTTE condemns this attack on the civilian bus,” it said in a statement. “Directly targeting civilians, as the Kebitigollewa Claymore [mine] attack has, cannot be justified under any circumstances.”
The Tigers said the military had carried out artillery and air attacks against areas held by them in the island’s troubled north-east and would project them as retaliatory strikes.
“The government of Sri Lanka is going to justify the air attack as retaliation for the Claymore attack which was also in fact carried out by them,” the LTTE statement said.
” … the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed the LTTE-controlled Mullaitivu area immediately after the Claymore attack,” the LTTE said in a statement. “Further information about the damages is awaited.”
Military officials reported the artillery attacks but would neither confirm nor deny the air attacks.
The LTTE said the bus bombing was timed to coincide with the return to the island of their delegation which had travelled to Oslo for abortive talks with the Sri Lankan government.
“The attack in Kebitigollewa timed to occur immediately after the arrival of the LTTE delegation from Europe is a reprehensible act of murder with the sole aim of blaming the LTTE for the attack,” the Tigers said.
Government military spokesperson Prasad Samarasinghe said they believed the bus bombing was the work of the Tamil Tiger guerrillas despite a truce that has been in place since February 2002.
The Tigers refused to meet a Sri Lankan delegation in Oslo last week and aborted the talks arranged by peace broker Norway.
Policy Planning Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, the government’s spokesperson on defence related issues, said two Buddhist monks were among those killed.
The bus packed with villagers was travelling Kebitigollewa when it was hit. Casualties were high as the bus was overcrowded with people travelling to buy provisions from a weekly market, Rambukwella said.
“This is a most barbaric terrorist act of the Tigers,” he said, accusing the LTTE of carrying out the attack. – AFP