Bombs on Sri Lankan Train Kill 67

At least 67 people were killed and more than 450 injured Wednesday when two bombs blamed on Tamil separatist rebels ripped through a packed commuter train in the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, a government minister said.

It was the worst attack on the Sri Lankan capital since a Tamil suicide bomber devastated Colombo’s commercial district in January, killing 88 people.

The bombings occurred as 2,000 Sri Lankan army reinforcements reached a major military base in the northeast, where the government had just suffered one of its worst defeats in a 13-year civil war that has killed more than 50,000 people.

No one claimed responsibility for the train blast, but Industrial Development Minister C.V. Gooneratne, who rushed to the scene, blamed the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, who accuse the Sinhalese majority of discrimination in education and jobs and are fighting for an independent homeland.

“There are at least 67 dead” in the train attack, Health Minister A.H.M. Fowzie said. “Altogether more than 450 people have been injured.”

The recent attacks on military and civilian targets showed that the Tigers are not backing down despite several months of government victories that had given some Sri Lankans hope the war was ending.

Police said they had detained two men after the explosions, but their identities were unknown.

The latest violence to hit the island came as government troops recaptured a strategic army camp at Mullaitivu, 175 miles northeast of Colombo, from the Tigers.

Of the 1,200 soldiers who had been at the base when rebels seized it last week, only 11 survivors were found--hiding in a well--when 2,000 reinforcements reached the base, military officials said.