Sri Lanka Bomb Attack Kills 92

The Sri Lankan government today condemned a suicide bomb blast that they say killed at least 92 sailors as a "barbaric terrorist attack on unarmed soldiers".

The death toll was expected to rise after a suspected suicide bomber from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rammed a truck laden with explosives into a naval road convoy earlier. At least another 150 people were injured in the attack.

"It is very clear that the LTTE is not willing to distance itself from terrorism," said government minister and defence spokesman, Keheliya Rambukwella.

The blast came on a day when a Japanese envoy held talks with the Sri Lankan government in an effort to ensure peace talks go ahead in Geneva later this month.

A convoy of 15 buses stopped at Digampathana village, near Habarana, and sailors had stepped out of the buses when the truck rammed into them.

Civilians at nearby shops were also caught in the explosion.

"The sailors were in civilian clothes and were not carrying weapons because they were either going on leave or reporting back after vacations," said a national security spokesman.

The navy gathers its men at a transit camp near Habarana before transporting them to the eastern naval base of Trincomalee.

The blast came just days after dozens of Sri Lankan government troops and rebels were killed and hundreds wounded in a battle.

At least 129 Sri Lankan soldiers were killed in one day of fighting and more than 300 injured.

The government says more than 200 LTTE rebels were killed but the group said only 22 fighters died.

A truce brokered between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE in 2002 was broken in late July.

Yasushi Akashi, a Japanese peace envoy, spoke with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and several senior government officials on Monday and is also expected to travel to the rebel stronghold in the north to meet with the Tamil Tiger political leader, SP Thamilchelvan.

The US assistant secretary of state, Richard Boucher, and Norway's special peace envoy, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, are also expected to visit the island later in the week for talks.

Sri Lanka has been engulfed in civil war since 1983, when tensions erupted between the Sinhalese majority and the LTTE. An estimated 65,000 people have been killed in the ensuing conflict.