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Sri Lanka
18 killed in Sri Lanka bus blast
2008-02-02
More detail on ryuge's post below.

Now let me see if I got this straight:
1) The Tamil Tigers bombed this bus full of old Buddhist pilgrims.
2) The same Tamil Tigers that want the UN to recognize them as a nation.
3) Because they're poor, oppressed, and misunderstood.

Think of Lanka next time the conversation turns to illegal immigration. The Tamils have moved right in and made themselves at home.
A bomb tore through a bus packed with mostly elderly Buddhist pilgrims in central Sri Lanka Saturday, killing 18 people and wounding 51 others, the military said. The military blamed separatist Tamil Tiger rebels for the blast in the bus at 7 a.m. in Dambulla, a town about 90 miles northeast of the capital, Colombo.

A spokesman for the rebels could not immediately be reached for comment. The group, listed as a terror organization by the U.S. and European Union, routinely denies responsibility for such attacks.

Bus driver Rohana Wijesiri said he was taking about 100 passengers, mainly elderly women, to the holy city of Anuradhapura.
Sri Lanka is the home of Hinayana Buddhism.
Bus driver Rohana Wijesiri said he was taking about 100 passengers, mainly elderly 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 bloodstained bags, glass and other debris strewn several 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 realized it's a bomb," Michael told The Associated Press at Dambulla Base Hospital, where he was being treated. Michael lost an eye in the blast.

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

"They (the rebels) are targeting innocent civilians as they face defeats in the battle front."
"They (the rebels) are targeting innocent civilians as they face defeats in the battle front," said Chandrapala Liyanage, President Mahinda Rajapaksa's spokesman.

Before dawn Friday, the army attacked rebel bunkers in the northern Jaffna peninsula, triggering a battle that killed 10 guerrillas and two soldiers, Nanayakkara said. Six more soldiers were wounded, he said.

Civilians have borne the brunt of the violence over the past month with three attacks on passenger buses killing dozens, including many schoolchildren. On Jan. 16 a roadside bomb attack by suspected rebels on a bus near the southeastern 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 southeast, 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.
Posted by:gorb

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