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Security tightened after Colombo blasts

Troops and police stepped up security in the Sri Lankan capital yesterday after two bomb blasts by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in the past 24 hours killed 11 people, officials said.

All vehicles entering Colombo were searched by heavily-armed troops and police during a three-hour period, a police spokesman said.

The move, following a blast on Monday evening at the edge of the capital which claimed at least eight lives, caused huge traffic jams in the morning.

Just before the search got underway yesterday, another blast in the island's north killed three people.

"All vehicles entering the city were checked," a police spokesman said. "This was a precautionary measure after yesterday's bomb attack."

A police commando wounded in Monday's bomb attack died of his injuries yesterday, raising to eight the number of people killed in that attack at Ratmalana, near a major airbase.

Another 38 people, including six police commandos, were still in hospital after surviving the bomb targeted at a police vehicle.

Media Minister Anura Yapa said the blast was the work of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, while Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse condemned the attack.

There was no reaction from the rebels, who are fighting for an independent homeland for minority Tamils. The conflict has claimed more than 60,000 lives since 1972.

In the town of Vavuniya, three men were blown up Tuesday, police said, adding that they suspected the men were trying to rig a device which may have exploded accidentally.

The latest wave of bombings came as analysts said they expected more violence in the Tamil separatist conflict in coming weeks.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in a new wave of fighting since December 2005.
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