2 bus bombings in Sri Lanka kill at least 23

COLOMBO: Bombs ripped through two buses in Sri Lanka on Friday, including one packed with morning commuters near the heavily fortified capital, officials said. At least 23 people were killed and 67 were wounded.

The attacks came two days after a bombing that targeted civilians in the capital, Colombo, and the authorities promptly blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels, who have fought the government for 25 years, seeking an independent homeland for the Tamil minority.

In one, a bomb was detonated on a roadside about 7:35 a.m. in the Colombo suburb of Moratuwa as a passenger bus went by, said a military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. That attack killed 21 people and wounded 47. The brigadier said a curfew had been imposed in the area to facilitate a search for suspects by soldiers and police officers.

Windows of the bus were shattered and it was stuck by shrapnel. A 45-year-old man who identified himself only as Nalaka said he had been thrown from his motorcycle by the force of the explosion.

"When I got up I saw the bus and quickly got into it," he said on AP Television News. "Some people lay dead. Some others were bleeding, I heard somebody screaming 'Help, help,' and I rushed to him, but I could not move him. "

Hours later, a bomb exploded inside a bus in the hills of the central Kandy district, killing 2 passengers and wounding 20, said a police spokesman, Ranjith Gunasekara.

The rebels, blamed for scores of suicide bombings and other attacks on civilians, are listed as a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and India. They are believed to have been behind a blast Wednesday that targeted a passenger train in Colombo and wounded 19 people.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa blamed the attack in Moratuwa on the Tamil Tigers and called on Sri Lankans to "remain vigilant against the forces of terror." While much of the fighting is taking place hundreds of kilometers to the north, the recent attacks have shaken Colombo and left residents fearful.

"I don't know how this war is being fought in the north," said Roshan Dhammika, a 30-year-old who drives a motorized rickshaw. "I see that only on the television. But, it now seems the war has come to the capital."

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