Colombo:
A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber on a motorbike blew himself up on Monday near a police building in a northern Sri Lankan town, killing 12 police officers and wounding 23 other people.
The bomber struck police officers and civilian bystanders on a street in the northern town of Vavuniya, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. He said 19 of the wounded were also police and the rest civilians.
Nanayakkara blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached immediately for comment.
The Tamil Tigers are banned in the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization, and are said to have carried out more than 240 suicide bombings against political, military and economic targets since the early 1980s.
Monday's attack came after a weekend of heavy fighting as Sri Lanka's air force destroyed a Tamil Tiger rebel base in the north, and 19 insurgents and two soldiers were killed in sporadic ground fighting over two days, the military said.
Ilanthirayan said Saturday airstrikes hit a civilian area, killing two people, but he denied any rebels had died in the fighting.
It was not possible to verify the conflicting claims because reporters are not allowed into the northern war zone. Both sides routinely release contradictory reports on the war, exaggerating the damage on the opposing side while playing down their own losses.
The Tamil Tiger rebels have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic minority Tamils, who have faced decades of marginalization by governments controlled by majority ethnic Sinhalese.
Soldiers have been trying for the past few months to push into the rebels' de facto state in the north from four fronts. The government has promised to capture the rebel territory by the end of this year.
The bomber struck police officers and civilian bystanders on a street in the northern town of Vavuniya, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. He said 19 of the wounded were also police and the rest civilians.
Nanayakkara blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for the attack.
Rebel spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan could not be reached immediately for comment.
The Tamil Tigers are banned in the United States and European Union as a terrorist organization, and are said to have carried out more than 240 suicide bombings against political, military and economic targets since the early 1980s.
Monday's attack came after a weekend of heavy fighting as Sri Lanka's air force destroyed a Tamil Tiger rebel base in the north, and 19 insurgents and two soldiers were killed in sporadic ground fighting over two days, the military said.
Ilanthirayan said Saturday airstrikes hit a civilian area, killing two people, but he denied any rebels had died in the fighting.
It was not possible to verify the conflicting claims because reporters are not allowed into the northern war zone. Both sides routinely release contradictory reports on the war, exaggerating the damage on the opposing side while playing down their own losses.
The Tamil Tiger rebels have fought since 1983 to create an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's ethnic minority Tamils, who have faced decades of marginalization by governments controlled by majority ethnic Sinhalese.
Soldiers have been trying for the past few months to push into the rebels' de facto state in the north from four fronts. The government has promised to capture the rebel territory by the end of this year.
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