Sri Lanka: Suspected Sri Lankan Tamil Tiger guerrillas killed 64 bus passengers, including 15 children, in a mine ambush yesterday.
It was the worst attack since a 2002 truce between the warring sides, and prompted a wave of government air strikes on rebel positions, officials said.
The government said the rebels planted two mines next to one another, which peppered the bus with ball bearings when they detonated on an isolated road near rebel-controlled territory in Anuradhapura district, 200km (124 miles) north of the capital Colombo.
Some 78 people were also injured in the attack for which the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) deny responsibility, blaming instead a paramilitary group allegedly linked to the government. Most of the victims, who were villagers travelling to work and children going to school, belonged to the majority Sinhalese community that constitutes about 74 per cent of Sri Lanka's population of more than 20 million. Army officials said the bus overturned and hurtled 25m down the road after it hit the Claymore mines which are favoured by the rebels.
Shortly after news of the attack emerged, the Sri Lankan military launched air strikes by Israeli-built Kfir fighters in the rebel-held areas of Sampur in the east and Kilinochchi in the north. The Tigers control both regions, where they run parallel administrations.
The air strikes were the first since May. The earlier attacks took place after a suspected LTTE female suicide bomber almost succeeded in assassinating the Sri Lankan army chief, who is still recovering from his injuries.
The government yesterday accused the LTTE of wanting, through such attacks on civilians, to provoke an ethnic backlash against minority Tamils to support their demands for a separate Tamil homeland. Tamils, who comprise about 12 per cent of the population, claim discrimination by the Sinhalese.
"We have to seriously consider the ceasefire agreement and possibly restructure it," government spokesman Kehilya Rambukwella said.
More than 500 people have died since early April in attacks by the LTTE and government forces, and many fear the island risks a return to civil war four years after signing a bilateral ceasefire.
Sri Lanka's stock market fell more than 3 per cent on news of the attack.
Diplomats in Colombo said neither the Tigers nor the government had exhibited flexibility. They feared that if the violence continued Sri Lanka would gradually relapse into a war that has already seen more than 64,000 deaths since it began in 1983.
The Tigers pulled out of peace talks in Geneva in April, but last week had agreed to resume negotiations with the government in Oslo over the safety of ceasefire monitors. But later they backed out, refusing to meet government officials. Peace mediator Norway last week wrote to both sides asking them to recommit to the truce. The government replied conveying its commitment but the Tigers have yet to respond.