Second claymore blast in Buttala targets army vehicle

A second claymore blast in Buttala, Moneragala targeted a Unicorn vehicle of the Army this morning, reports say. Three soldiers were injured in the incident at Galge on Buttala-Kataragama road. This explosion followed hours after a similar attack on a passenger bus that claimed 26 lives and injured 67 others.

A bomb ripped through a packed civilian bus Wednesday, killing 23 people in southeastern Sri Lanka. The blast, the latest in a string of attacks in government-held territory in recent months, struck the bus in Buttala, 150 miles southeast of Colombo.

The bomb was planted by the side of the road, exploded about 7:45 a.m., said military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara. In addition to the 23 killed, 67 people were injured… "We do not know if it was a claymore mine or a parcel bomb," he said, when asked about the nature of the explosive device.

Thirty of the injured were in a critical condition in Moneragala and Buttala hospitals, reports said.

The Tigers were not immediately available for comment on the blast, which bore the hallmarks of previous rebel attacks, but routinely deny involvement. A 2002 ceasefire which broke down on the ground two years ago formally ends later today after President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government announced a fortnight ago it was scrapping the pact, triggering fears that the fighting will deepen.

Chief Minister of Uva Vijithamuni Soysa announced that all schools in the province would be closed indefinitely following the Okkampitiya bus bomb blast. The decision has been taken to facilitate the police and the security in their duties in the aftermath of the explosion that claimed 26 lives and injured 64 others. Three schoolchildren are among the dead, reports say.