Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels set off a bomb in a bus in western Sri Lanka today, killing at least five people and wounding 30, the military said, as fighting raged in the north and east of the island.
Around 80 people were aboard the bus when the blast occurred in the town of Nittambuwa, 36 km (20 miles) north of Colombo, during evening rush hour.
"It was a bomb inside the bus, very powerful, the bus is burning," said military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe. "The Tigers are targeting civilians."
There was no immediate comment from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who want to carve out a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the east and north of the island. Samarasinghe said at least five people were killed and he expected the death toll to rise further.
"There are at least 30 injured, 10 of them serious, the number may go up." The blast in the relatively peaceful west took place at a time when the Sri Lankan military has launched air and artillery attacks on the LTTE in the north and the east of the island.
More than 3,000 people were killed in suicide bombings, aerial and naval raids and clashes last year despite a 2002 ceasefire that international monitors say now exists only on paper.
A mine explosion earlier in the day in the rebel-controlled northern region killed two government agriculture officials, the Tigers said, blaming the blast on government forces.
The Tigers said a Sri Lankan army group had crossed into the rebel-controlled Nedunkeni area, apparently to target rebels but hit the government officials by mistake. The military denied any involvement.