Sri Lanka bombs rebels after bus blast kills 61

COLOMBO – Sri Lankan jets pounded Tamil Tiger rebel positions yesterday, the Tigers said, in apparent retaliation for a bloody ambush on a civilian bus that left 61 people dead in the worst incident since a 2002 truce.

The government said the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam used two claymore mines side by side to blast a hail of steel into a packed bus on an isolated road near rebel territory. Fifty-eight people died at the scene, three in hospital, police said.Most were from the island’s majority Sinhalese community.The government said the Tigers were trying to provoke an ethnic backlash against minority Tamils to drive them to their cause as they try to win a separate Tamil homeland.The Tigers denied involvement in the attack.Few have believed their denials of responsibility for similar attacks on the military.More than 500 people have died since early April, and many fear the island risks a return to civil war.The government refused to comment on any retaliation, but a military source said Israeli-built Kfir fighter bombers were being used to hit rebel targets.There was no word on casualties from the raids on rebel-held areas of northeastern Mulattivvu and Trincomalee districts.The attacks followed a suspected Tiger attack on a civilian bus that officials said killed 61 civilians.”There was aerial bombing…in the Mulattivvu area,” Tiger media coordinator Daya Master said.”There is aerial bombing and shelling in Mutur (near Trincomalee) and it is still going on.”Diplomats fear the peace process is reaching its endgame.The Tigers pulled out of peace talks in April but had agreed to talks last week in Oslo over the safety of ceasefire monitors.But on arrival, they refused to meet the government.Diplomats say neither the government nor the Tigers have shown sufficient flexibility and fear that if violence continues the country will gradually fall back into a war that has already killed more than 64 000 people.- Nampa-ReutersFifty-eight people died at the scene, three in hospital, police said.Most were from the island’s majority Sinhalese community.The government said the Tigers were trying to provoke an ethnic backlash against minority Tamils to drive them to their cause as they try to win a separate Tamil homeland.The Tigers denied involvement in the attack.Few have believed their denials of responsibility for similar attacks on the military.More than 500 people have died since early April, and many fear the island risks a return to civil war.The government refused to comment on any retaliation, but a military source said Israeli-built Kfir fighter bombers were being used to hit rebel targets.There was no word on casualties from the raids on rebel-held areas of northeastern Mulattivvu and Trincomalee districts.The attacks followed a suspected Tiger attack on a civilian bus that officials said killed 61 civilians.”There was aerial bombing…in the Mulattivvu area,” Tiger media coordinator Daya Master said.”There is aerial bombing and shelling in Mutur (near Trincomalee) and it is still going on.”Diplomats fear the peace process is reaching its endgame.The Tigers pulled out of peace talks in April but had agreed to talks last week in Oslo over the safety of ceasefire monitors.But on arrival, they refused to meet the government.Diplomats say neither the government nor the Tigers have shown sufficient flexibility and fear that if violence continues the country will gradually fall back into a war that has already killed more than 64 000 people.- Nampa-Reuters