COLOMBO, Feb 2: Twenty civilians were killed and over 50 injured on Saturday morning as suspected Tiger rebels bombed a public bus in central Sri Lanka amid island-wide preparations to commemorate the 60th Independence Day celebrations on Monday.

The celebrations had been planned on a grand scale despite fears of LTTE reprisals in Colombo, a government source said on Saturday hours after the deadly bus blast in Dambulla, an agricultural hub in the country, 150 kilometres northeast of the capital.

The blast ripped off the bus at 7:05am in Dambulla town, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

Meanwhile, army officials said thousands of soldiers were being deployed in the city and military surveillance had been enhanced for the celebrations to be held Feb 4, at the Galle Face promenade, a usually busy place.

On the other hand, fighting intensified across the north on Saturday killing over 30 rebels, said the military sources.

AFP adds: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has urged citizens not to be provoked by the rebels “brutality”. A parcel bomb went off as the crowded bus, carrying many Buddhist pilgrims belonging to the ethnic Sinhalese majority, stopped in Dambulla, 150 kilometres north of Colombo, to collect more passengers.

The attack “shows the reality of the struggle we have to face to eliminate terrorism from our country”, Rajapakse said in a statement, urging people to remain calm and avoid being “provoked by the brutality” of the Tigers.

The Tamil rebels are “eager to create a backlash (by the Sinhalese majority) to obtain the sympathy of the international community” for their long fight for an independent homeland, Rajapakse said.—AFP