November 29, 2007	Thursday	Ziqa’ad 18, 1428

COLOMBO, Nov 28: At least 18 people were killed in Sri Lanka on Wednesday in two bomb attacks blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said, one day after the guerillas’ leader said peace with Colombo was impossible.

A powerful parcel bomb exploded outside a clothing store on the outskirts of Colombo, killing 17, wounding 43 others and leaving the street littered with body parts, police said.

The attack came just hours after a disabled female suicide bomber blew herself up outside the office of a Tamil government minister, killing his secretary and injuring two security guards.

Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, a vocal opponent of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), escaped unharmed. He had been the target of at least four previous attempts on his life.

Officials blamed both attacks on Tamil Tiger rebels, who have been fighting for an independent Tamil homeland for 35 years, a conflict that has left tens of thousands of people dead.

The two blasts came a day after Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran vowed to strike back at what he branded the “war of genocide” led by the Colombo government and said peace efforts on the island were a waste of time.

Prabhakaran launched a furious attack on the government of President Mahinda Rajapakse, accusing the “Sinhala nation” of trying to destroy the “Tamil nation” — language which observers said could signal a return to all-out war.

The bombing outside the clothing shop came during the evening rush hour, preventing ambulances from reaching the scene. Three children were among the wounded, a hospital official said.

“It’s chaos,” a police officer said. “LTTE terrorists carried out this cowardly bomb attack targeting innocent civilians in the densely populated Nugegoda town this evening,” the defence ministry said in a statement.The government appealed to the public to be on the lookout for more bombs.

“The public is urged to be vigilant and inform the nearest police or army checkpoint of any suspicious parcels placed in public places,” said military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara.

Earlier, a female suicide bomber with polio tried to enter the heavily guarded building housing Devananda’s office but was halted and blew herself up outside.

Tiger suicide bombers usually don jackets with a manual detonating device around waist level, police said, but she appeared to have wired her bra to explode.

On Tuesday, the reclusive Prabhakaran delivered his annual speech from a jungle hideout in his northern fiefdom, warning: “Those who plan to destroy the Tamil nation will in the end be forced to face their own destruction.” The rebel chief’s fiery assault on the island’s Sinhalese majority came a day after the island’s defence secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, said his forces would go all out to kill Prabhakaran and recapture the north from the LTTE.

Violence in Sri Lanka has escalated since late 2005, when a truce began to unravel.

The government has this year wrested control of the east from the LTTE, sunk several LTTE gun-running ships and killed the LTTE’s political chief.

“It is unleashing unthinkable violence against another people. It only desires to find a solution to the Tamil question through military might and oppression,” Prabhakaran said.

The LTTE in July commemorated the 20th anniversary of their first-ever suicide bombing by honouring 322 fighters who have killed themselves in attacks.

The pro-rebel Puthinam.com website said the “Black Tigers” had deployed 61 suicide bombers in the past year alone, many of them woman.—AFP