AP News, May 28th, 2007
A roadside bomb exploded during the evening rush hour near Sri Lanka's capital on Monday and killed seven civilians, the military said.
Military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said a truck carrying police commandos to the capital was hit by the blast in Ratmalana, a suburb of Colombo.
He blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels, but the group denied the allegation.
Samarasinghe said seven civilians died and 33 were wounded, including four police commandos.
"We suspect that the bomb had been planted on the roof or the wall of an abandoned shop," Samarasinghe said.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan denied the Tamil Tiger rebels were responsible for the bomb.
"I only have to say that we have nothing to do with it," Ilanthirayan told The Associated Press.
The explosion occurred during the evening rush hour as many workers were returning home.
It comes amid a worsening separatist conflict in Sri Lanka that has killed more than 5,000 people in the past 18 months. The renewed violence shattered a 5-year-old cease-fire brokered by Norway and viewed as the best opportunity to solve the crisis.
Roadside bombs that can be triggered by remote control have been commonly used by Tamil rebels in their fight for a homeland.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels have fought the government since 1983 to carve out a separate homeland for the country's 3.1 million ethnic minority Tamils who have suffered decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese-dominated state.
About 70,000 people have been killed in the two-decade conflict.
