Bus Blast Kills 12 Sri Lankan Sailors
Agence France Presse.
April 11, 2006
Suspected Tamil rebels blew up a bus full of sailors in northeastern Sri Lanka, killing 12 and further dimming hopes for a new round of peace talks next week, officials said.
The attack Tuesday was seen by officials involved in the Norwegian-backed peace bid as a blow to diplomatic efforts to get the parties to the negotiating table in Switzerland to discuss ways to save an increasingly faltering ceasefire.
The bus was travelling from the port city of Trincomalee to Kantale, the next main town in the region, when it was caught in the blast, a police official in the area told AFP.
"Victims have been sent to three hospitals," the official said, adding that the bus had hit an oncoming van just after the blast and four passengers, including three Britons, were also hurt.
Three of the foreigners were from the eastern England city of Norwich, police said. Hospital sources in Kantale said they were badly shaken, but out of danger.
They were, however, airlifted to the main city of Colombo for hospital observation. Among those killed was a civilian driver of the bus transporting sailors returning home for the traditional Sinhala New Year on Thursday.
The latest attack was a carbon copy of Monday's ambush in the island's north where five soldiers and two civilians were killed. The government blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the attack.
The blast in Trincomalee district followed a defence ministry announcement that it had bolstered security after Monday's attack in the northern peninsula of Jaffna where mine attacks spike between December and January.
"We have stepped up security after the incident," ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said just before Tuesday's attack. "Clearing operations are underway in the area (in Jaffna)."
The upsurge in violence came as Sri Lanka's international donors urged the Tigers to attend the April 19-21 talks aimed at salvaging a Norwegian-brokered truce that held since February 2002.
Diplomats and officials involved in the process have expressed fears that the talks may be delayed by the violence that followed a war of words between the two sides.
"We are getting close to the date (of talks), but some of the arrangements have not been completed because of the uncertainty," an official said referring to the increasingly tentative Swiss talks next week.
However, the international community was trying to nudge both sides back to the table.
The ambassadors of Norway, Japan and the European Union -- known as the "Co-Chairs" for their efforts to drum up aid in support of Sri Lanka's peace bid -- travelled to Tiger territory Monday to deliver a strong message.
"The LTTE was urged again to refrain from all violence and to engage in a discussion on a political outcome, ensuring the democratic rights of all people in Sri Lanka," they said in a statement.
It was "paramount" that Colombo and the LTTE work on confidence building measures to push the peace process, the co-chairs said.
Tuesday's mine attack was the third against troops since the first round of truce talks held in February in Switzerland where both sides agreed to halt attacks that left at least 153 people dead in December and January.
The LTTE was also held responsible by the government for a landmine attack on Saturday that injured a soldier and a civilian at Neerveli in Jaffna.
The Tamil separatist conflict has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse.
April 11, 2006
Suspected Tamil rebels blew up a bus full of sailors in northeastern Sri Lanka, killing 12 and further dimming hopes for a new round of peace talks next week, officials said.
The attack Tuesday was seen by officials involved in the Norwegian-backed peace bid as a blow to diplomatic efforts to get the parties to the negotiating table in Switzerland to discuss ways to save an increasingly faltering ceasefire.
The bus was travelling from the port city of Trincomalee to Kantale, the next main town in the region, when it was caught in the blast, a police official in the area told AFP.
"Victims have been sent to three hospitals," the official said, adding that the bus had hit an oncoming van just after the blast and four passengers, including three Britons, were also hurt.
Three of the foreigners were from the eastern England city of Norwich, police said. Hospital sources in Kantale said they were badly shaken, but out of danger.
They were, however, airlifted to the main city of Colombo for hospital observation. Among those killed was a civilian driver of the bus transporting sailors returning home for the traditional Sinhala New Year on Thursday.
The latest attack was a carbon copy of Monday's ambush in the island's north where five soldiers and two civilians were killed. The government blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the attack.
The blast in Trincomalee district followed a defence ministry announcement that it had bolstered security after Monday's attack in the northern peninsula of Jaffna where mine attacks spike between December and January.
"We have stepped up security after the incident," ministry spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said just before Tuesday's attack. "Clearing operations are underway in the area (in Jaffna)."
The upsurge in violence came as Sri Lanka's international donors urged the Tigers to attend the April 19-21 talks aimed at salvaging a Norwegian-brokered truce that held since February 2002.
Diplomats and officials involved in the process have expressed fears that the talks may be delayed by the violence that followed a war of words between the two sides.
"We are getting close to the date (of talks), but some of the arrangements have not been completed because of the uncertainty," an official said referring to the increasingly tentative Swiss talks next week.
However, the international community was trying to nudge both sides back to the table.
The ambassadors of Norway, Japan and the European Union -- known as the "Co-Chairs" for their efforts to drum up aid in support of Sri Lanka's peace bid -- travelled to Tiger territory Monday to deliver a strong message.
"The LTTE was urged again to refrain from all violence and to engage in a discussion on a political outcome, ensuring the democratic rights of all people in Sri Lanka," they said in a statement.
It was "paramount" that Colombo and the LTTE work on confidence building measures to push the peace process, the co-chairs said.
Tuesday's mine attack was the third against troops since the first round of truce talks held in February in Switzerland where both sides agreed to halt attacks that left at least 153 people dead in December and January.
The LTTE was also held responsible by the government for a landmine attack on Saturday that injured a soldier and a civilian at Neerveli in Jaffna.
The Tamil separatist conflict has claimed over 60,000 lives since 1972.
Copyright © 2006 Agence France Presse.
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