03-02-2008

LTTE trying to spark 'backlash', says Rajapaksa

Colombo (PTI): Terming Saturday's bomb attack on a bus that killed 18 people as an act of "desperation" by the LTTE, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa accused the Tamil rebels of trying to trigger a "backlash" from the majority Sinhalese to obtain sympathy of the international community.

"I vehemently and unequivocally condemn this latest act of savagery by the LTTE in carrying out the blast in a civilian bus at Dambulla today," Rajapaksa said in a statement.

A parcel bomb planted by suspected LTTE rebels ripped through a bus packed with Buddhist pilgrims in the central town, killing 18 passengers, mostly women, and injuring 51 others, just two days before the strife-torn country celebrates its Independence Day.

Many of those killed and injured were pilgrims going to the North-Central city of Anuradhapura to participate in a Buddhist ceremony, Rajapaksa said.

He described the attack as a "repeated brutality by the LTTE which in its desperation in the face of defeats inflicted on them by the security forces, is eager to create a backlash to their terror, to obtain the sympathy of the international community".

This act of terror, similar to many other acts of savagery directed at innocent civilians before, underscores the continued commitment of the LTTE to violence to achieve their goal of separation, the president said, while urging people to stay calm in the face of the attack.

"These repeated acts of unmitigated brutality must bring to the attention of the entire civilised world the nature of the terrorist threat that is faced by Sri Lanka," he said.

"It is only the most brutal and politically bankrupt movements that are capable of continuing with such acts," he said.

Source-AFP