Bus bomb kills 24 passengers near Sri Lanka capital

COLOMBO (AFP) - A bomb ripped through an overcrowded bus near Sri Lanka's capital on Friday, killing 24 passengers and wounding over 60, in one of the worst attacks against civilians in three months, police said.

The bomb exploded inside the vehicle, blowing off its roof, as it pulled out of the Piliyandala bus terminal into rush-hour traffic, a police spokesman said, with victims being rushed to nearby hospitals.

"There was a massive explosion, I couldn't open my eyes. There was black smoke everywhere, there was blood pouring from my head," said Ananda Ratnasiri, 38, the bus driver.

He said the explosion happened as he was steering the vehicle out of the station.

"The bus must have travelled about 10 metres when the blast went off," Ratnasiri said at Kalubowila Hospital, where he was being treated for head injuries.

Kalubowila Hospital director W. G. Gunawardene said 16 women and 47 men were being treated at his hospital. "Seven injured are due for surgery. We have 13 dead here, three women and 10 men, which includes a 10-year-old boy."

Police said the explosive device may have been placed in the rear section of the bus. The vehicle had the capacity to carry 60 passengers, but was transporting many more.

The bus was jammed with office workers and schoolchildren returning from private classes, witnesses said.

"Most of the initial dead or wounded were taken to hospital in private taxis, vans," said security guard N. A. Dharmadasa, 58, who was also on the bus.

"I was seated inside the back of the bus and lost consciousness. Someone dragged me out. I came here in a three-wheeler taxi with some injured people. I have some glass pieces in the back of my head," Dharmadasa said from his hospital bed.

"At least 10 people died on the spot," a police official at the scene said. "Another 14 died on the way to hospital" or in hospital.

Among those killed were a Buddhist monk and at least eight women, police said.

Police cordoned off the area and asked motorists to use alternate routes.

At least 63 wounded were being treated in two hospitals, the police official added.

Outside the hospitals, ambulances rushed patients in, while frantic, weeping relatives clamoured for news of people they feared might have been on the bus.

"I am looking for my friend Daminda. His family said he has not come home yet, we think he was on the bus," K. D. Priyantha said outside Kalubowila Hospital.

The latest blast came as security forces and Tamil Tiger rebels were locked in fierce combat in the north of the country, where both sides were reported to have suffered heavy casualties.

A similar explosion in February wounded 18 bus passengers, while 28 people were killed in another bus blast in January.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for Friday's attack, but authorities have laid the blame for similar bombings on Tamil Tiger guerrillas who are fighting for independence in the island's northeast.

The rebels have been fighting to carve out an independent homeland for the Tamil minority since 1972. Tens of thousands have died on both sides in the conflict in the Sinhalese-majority nation.

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