MOUNT LAVINIA, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - A suspected Tamil Tiger bomb blast destroyed a passenger bus on the outskirts of the Sri Lankan capital on Saturday, wounding 18 people, but no-one was killed.
The military said deaths were averted after a femalepassenger spotted a suspect parcel on the bus and informed thedriver and conductor, who then evacuated the bus in the town ofMount Lavinia, just south of Colombo.
It was the latest in a series of bombings in recent monthsblamed on the rebels, who want a separate state in the IndianOcean island's north and east.
A Reuters witness saw the charred, mangled wreckage of thebus, its rear blown completely apart.
"One lady has seen a suspicious parcel and informed thedriver and conductor. They got everyone off the bus, and thenthe driver moved the bus 10-15 metres away from the bus stop,"said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara.
"They should be commended. No-one was killed," he added,saying the wounded included an 8-month-old child. "It wasdefinitely the Tigers."
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)
