COLOMBO: Sixty-four civilians were killed and 86 injured when a state-run passenger bus was destroyed in a powerful claymore explosion in Sri Lanka's north-central Anuradhapura district on Thursday, the Army said.

The Government said the blast bore "the hallmarks" of an attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "There is no iota of doubt that it is the LTTE," the Government's spokesperson on security issues, Keheliya Rambukwella, told a press conference.

The LTTE, in a statement, denied involvement and blamed the Government for the attack. It said the "reprehensible act of murders" was "timed for the arrival of the LTTE delegation from Europe with the sole aim of blaming the LTTE."

The blast, which occurred at 7.45 a.m., "threw the bus 20 metres off the road," the Army said. The identity of the victims of the worst massacre of civilians since the February 2002 ceasefire agreement is not yet available. The Army said the victims were "all Sinhalese."

"The bodies were in pieces," military spokesperson Prasad Samarasinghe told The Hindu a short while after the blast shook the Sinhalese-majority north-central district.

After the morning attack on the bus, the security forces took "deterrent measures" in two rebel areas, the Army said. Reports from the north-east said there were "air and artillery attacks."

Mr. Rambukwella said the Government would exercise its military option "on targeted locations as a deterrent against further LTTE strikes." There are no details of the extent of damage in the attacks in the Mullaittivu and Sampur areas under LTTE control.

Confirmed reports said at least 15 children were among those killed, Brig. Samarasinghe said. The Government ruled out the possibility that the bus was a "mistaken target" and described the bombing as a "barbaric act of terrorism."

Government spokesperson and Media Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa described the bombing as "an evil design by terrorists to provoke a backlash." Urging restraint, he also appealed to the "international community to extend co-operation to the Government at this crucial time."

Initial government figures placed the casualties at over 60 dead and 40 injured. On Thursday evening, the Army gave the figure of 86 injured and said the initial reports did not reflect the situation as "the injured victims were in three different hospitals."

Switzerland, which hosted the first round of ceasefire implementation talks in February, strongly condemned the attack.

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