February 04, 2008	Monday	Muharram 25, 1429

COLOMBO, Feb 3: Two bomb blasts here on Sunday killed 12 civilians and injured 104 people on the eve of Sri Lanka’s Independence Day.

A parcel bomb exploded on Sunday morning in a zoo in Dehiwela, a Colombo suburb, injuring four.The another ripped through a packed train at around 2pm at the central railway station in Colombo Fort, killing 12 and injuring over 100 persons.

Police officials said the train blast had been triggered by a woman suicide bomber who had blown herself up when security forces personnel and police had been carrying out random checking at the station.

The bomb exploded in the train which had arrived from northern Vavuniya, eyewitnesses said.

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara confirmed that the blast had been detonated by a woman suicide bomber who had been getting down from the train to be checked by the police.

The two explosions took place a day after a parcel bomb in a bus on Saturday killed 20 civilians and injured over 50, mostly Buddhist pilgrims, in the central town of Dambulla.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has accused the Tiger rebels of trying to create an ethnic backlash by targeting civilians in the south who belong to majority Sinhalese community.

“I vehemently and unequivocally condemn this latest act of savagery by the LTTE,” Rajapakse said in a statement urging people to stay calm in the face of the attacks.