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Fifteen die in Sri Lanka bus bombing

Fifteen people were killed and 40 wounded yesterday when a suspected female suicide bomber blew up a bus in Sri Lanka, the second deadly bus attack in two days, police said.

The suicide bomber was believed to have detonated explosives that she carried onboard the crowded vehicle, which was travelling along a tourist strip in southern Sri Lanka, police said.

"We suspect it was a suicide bombing," police inspector Upul Ariyaratne said from his regional headquarters at Ambalangoda, 85km south of Colombo, close to where the bus was blown up.

"We have taken 15 bodies to hospital and another 40 were admitted to two hospitals," Ariyaratne said.

The attack followed a bus blast late on Friday when six passengers were killed and another 70 wounded near Colombo.

Authorities blamed both attacks on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is fighting for an independent Tamil homeland.

The Tamil Tigers denied involvement in the blasts.

"The government of Sri Lanka is trying to blame the LTTE for the two bomb blasts," LTTE defense spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan said in a statement.

"This is a baseless allegation made without any evidence to support it," Ilanthirayan said.

In yesterday's blast, 60 passengers were in the bus which was driving along the tourist stretch between Ambalangoda and Hikkaduwa when the bomb went off.

The bus was travelling from the capital Colombo to Matara, a distance of 160km.

The route was immediately cordoned off by heavily armed troops. There were no reports of other vehicles or tourists getting caught up in the attack.

In Friday's blast, a 2kg time bomb was fixed to a seat in the bus, which burst into flames following the explosion.

The bombs came after four days of government air raids against rebel positions in the north.

Police said they arrested three suspected Tiger rebels in the area three days earlier on suspicion that they were trying to create trouble.

The worst bus attack in recent times was in June when Tiger rebels set off a powerful landmine and ambushed an overcrowded bus, killing at least 67 passengers.

Suspected Tiger rebels attacked the main sea port of Galle, close to where the bus was hit yesterday, by using a flotilla of boats packed with explosives in October.

Yesterday's attack came in the same district where Sri Lanka's aid donors are scheduled to meet later this month. The US, Japan, the EU and Norway have tied US$4.5 billion of aid to progress on a peace settlement.

The new violence came after both President Mahinda Rajapakse and the LTTE wished for peace in their New Year messages.

"We hope the New Year will bring the long awaited genuine and sustainable peace," Rajapakse said, while the Tigers called for global backing for their "sincere effort to seek a permanent peace through a just political solution."

The conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.
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