Bomb destroys bus near Sri Lankan capital

Hospital officials said nine people were admitted withblast injuries following the explosion at a bus stand in thetown of Mount Lavinia, just south of Colombo.

It was latest in a series of bombings blamed on the rebelsin recent months.

A Reuters witness saw the charred, mangled wreckage of thebus, its rear blown completely apart. He said there were noimmediate signs of any fatalities.

Local television reported the bus had been evacuatedshortly before the blast after a woman passenger saw anunattended bag.

"It seems the bomb was planted in the bus," said a militaryspokesman, declining to be named in line with policy.

"Obviously it was the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of TamilEelam)," he added. "Nothing but them."

Shortly after the blast, an eyewitness said he could seesmoke rising into the air and ambulances rushing to the scene.

"There was an explosion that hit a bus. I can see thesmoke," said Haren Fernando, a private sector worker who wasstanding beside the road in Mount Lavinia.

The Tigers were not immediately available for comment onthe blast, but routinely deny involvement in attacksincreasingly focused on civilians as a 25-year civil war entersa new phase.

The attack came a day after the Tigers, notorious fortit-for-tat attacks, said Sri Lankan government fighter jetskilled eight civilians, including three young children, in anair raid on their northern stronghold.

Fighting between the military and Tigers has intensifiedsince the government formally pulled out of a six-year-oldceasefire pact in January, though a renewed war has been ragingsince 2006.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government argues the Tigersused the truce to re-arm and were not sincere about talkingpeace. It has vowed to crush them militarily, and has capturedlarge swathes of rebel-held territory in the east.

But analysts say neither side is winning, with the Tigersregularly hitting back with suicide attacks and roadside bombs.

The violence hurt tourist arrivals last year, which fell 12percent from a year earlier, while the stock market slid nearly7 percent in 2007, with some businesses shelving investmentplans.

(Reporting by Buddhika Weerasinghe, Ranga Sirilal and SimonGardner; Editing by Alex Richardson)