Tamils Blamed for Sri Lanka Bomb Attack

A suicide car bomb attack at the army’s anti-guerrilla warfare center killed scores of people Friday, military officials said. They blamed Tamil rebels for the attack.

Up to 60 people, including 20 civilians, died in the explosion at the heavily fortified Joint Operations Command in the heart of Colombo, the officials said. The government reported 20 dead, mostly soldiers, and more than 50 injured.

Two men in a van with more than 150 pounds of plastic explosives tried to drive into the base, said Walter Fernando, a deputy secretary of defense.

When guards barred their way, the men detonated the charge, instantly killing the two men and at least six sentries, Fernando said.

The blast blew the roof off the sprawling colonial-style building and heavily damaged military barracks across the street. It damaged 50 houses and 20 cars, and sent hundreds of people screaming through the neighborhood.

Among the buildings damaged in the fashionable residential area of Colombo were the Yugoslav Embassy and the United States Information Service.

No one immediately claimed responsibility, but the government suspected the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the main Tamil rebel group. The command center is headquarters for the army’s operations against the Tamil rebels, who have been battling the government in northern and eastern Sri Lanka since 1983, seeking an independent homeland.

The Tigers also are presumed responsible for the March 2 car bomb assassination of Defense Minister Ranjan Wijeratne.

Indian authorities have blamed the Tigers for the assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, who was killed May 21 by a suicide bomber in southern India. Several Indian and Sri Lankan Tamils have been arrested in the assassination.