Two bombings hit Sri Lankan capital

A female suicide bomber struck Wednesday in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, killing herself and one other person, but not the government minister who was the intended target. Authorities blamed the attack on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), or Tamil Tigers, whose long-running separatist war flared up last year after the collapse of a Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire.

Just hours after the suicide attack, another bomb exploded in a busy central district of Colombo, killing at least 16 people, reports the British Broadcasting Corp. Thirty-seven were also injured in the blast, which occurred outside a clothing shop in the Nugegoda district.

The bombings came one day after Sri Lanka warplanes bombed a LTTE radio station to stop the broadcast of an annual speech by rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The group separately accused the military of planting a roadside bomb that killed 13 people, mostly students. In his speech, which was carried by other rebel media, Mr. Prabhakaran said it was impossible to make peace with the ethnic Sinhalese majority. For its part, the Sinhalese-dominated government has said it can defeat the LTTE in its northern stronghold and vowed Monday to kill Prabhakaran.

The suicide bombing took place near the office of Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda, reports Reuters. The minister's personal secretary died and two other people were wounded in the blast, according to hospital officials. An officer of the elite police Special Task Force told Reuters that it was a suicide mission.

CNN reports that Mr. Devananda, who was unharmed, is an ethnic Tamil who heads a pro-government political party. He is seen as a traitor by the LTTE and "has survived 12 previous assassination attempts".

On Monday, hawkish Defense Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said in an interview with Agence France-Presse (AFP) that he wanted to kill guerrilla chief Prabhakaran and that a political solution could only emerge from a military victory over the Tigers. Earlier this month, LTTE political head S.P. Thamilselvan died in an air raid that Mr. Rajapakse said was a precision strike based on intelligence.

Monday was also the day the LTTE chief marked his 53rd birthday, and Rajapakse said that if all goes to plan it will be his last.

"We are after him. We are specifically targeting their leadership," he said.

"For the last few months he (Prabhakaran) has been even more restricted in his movements. We want to keep them under pressure. We are gathering intelligence, information."

The LTTE said that a group of Tamil schoolchildren died Tuesday when their bus hit a land mine laid by the military, the British Broadcasting Corp. reported. The military denied involvement.

"Thirteen civilians, including 11 schoolchildren, were killed in a claymore attack, by the Deep Penetration Unit of the Government of Sri Lanka, on a van near Iyankulam, 25km west of Kilinochchi town," the rebels said.

The driver and an adult accompanying the children were also killed, a statement said. Pictures on the rebels' website showed the bodies of schoolgirls laid out on the ground. The rebels are frequently accused of using claymore mines against government forces.

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