Roadside bombings in Sri Lanka killed more than a dozen people today as the country’s president marked the island’s 60th anniversary of its independence, claiming terrorism was "facing a defeat it has never faced before".
The capital, Colombo, was effectively sealed off, with roads blocked and mobile phone operators cutting off services in the morning in anticipation of an attack by the rebel Tamil Tigers.
The city saw parades, speeches and a security clampdown closing 40 schools for the week.
However, the guerrillas appeared to strike in Welioya, a region 150 miles north of the capital, bombing a bus. Twelve civilians died and 17 were injured.
Another roadside bombing, in the south-eastern town of Buttala, killed one soldier and injured two others, the military said.
The president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, used the anniversary to rail against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
He reiterated his vow to crush the Tigers, who want a separate state for the island’s 3 million mainly Hindu Tamils in the north and east of Sri Lanka.
"Our defense forces have achieved victories that were never before seen. Terrorism is facing a defeat that it has never before faced," he said. Government officials have said they hope to rout the rebels by the end of the year.
In a militaristic display, troops and bands marched next to multi-barrel rocket launchers, armored personnel carriers and heavy artillery pieces. Just off the coast sailed the navy’s fleet of armed speed craft while overhead flew helicopters and jets.
The Tigers have not claimed responsibility for a wave of attacks on civilians – a routine practice by the group, which is listed as a terrorist organization by the European Union, the United States and India.
On Sunday, a female suicide bomber blew herself up inside the capital’s main railway station, killing 11 people and wounding 92 others. A day earlier, a bomb on a bus killed 18 people, mostly Buddhist pilgrims, in the central town of Dambulla.
Full-scale fighting between the Sri Lankan military and the LTTE has become a daily event since the government scrapped the truce last month, accusing the rebels of using it to rebuild and rearm, and saying they were insincere about wanting peace.
Analysts say the government’s strategy appeared to be two-pronged: to set up local governments headed by pro-government Tamil politicians, and to shred the Tigers’ military strength.
At the top of the government’s hit list is the Tigers’ elusive guerrilla leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.
"It is a war of attrition," said Alan Keenan of the International Crisis Group.
"We are looking at a period of intense warfare, with all the ancillary violence that brings. The government is boxed in with its rhetoric of war. It has raised expectations and cannot back down.
"There is a possibility of shattering the Tamil Tigers into smaller pieces and fighting a prolonged insurgency. But it is a long shot."
An estimated 70,000 people have died since the conflict began in 1983. The violence erupted when Buddhist Sinhalese mobs instigated anti-Tamil riots across the country, shattering the social compact between races that had seen Sri Lanka touted as a model developing country in the 1960s.