SRI Lankan Justice Minister, Mr G.L. Peiris, yesterday vowed to intensify military operations against Tamil Tiger rebels after a suicide bomb in the heart of Colombo killed up to 80 people.
This calamity underlines the need to defeat the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam]. Military operations will be intensified in the north and east," he said.
"The government also believes if its strategy is to be successful and the LTTE is to be overcome, there must also be a political initiative to offer justice and fair to all sections of our people," he said in reference to a government peace plan.
Meanwhile the Tigers, who rarely admit to suicide bomb attacks they have been blamed for, have denied responsibility. LTTE radio quoted military analysts as saying the security forces could have done the bombing.
Colombo general hospital, crowded with people searching for relatives who might be among the injured from Wednesday's bomb attack, said it had 60 bodies in the morgue.
Police supervising rescue work at the central bank and seven nearby buildings gutted by the blast, said eight charred bodies were unearthed from the rubble yesterday morning. One was that of a young woman dug out of the ruined office of the national airline, Air Lanka, opposite the bank They said rescue workers expected to find at least a dozen more.
The toll could rise further, with at least 100 critically injured people still in hospital. The acting national police chief, Mr Mithra Ariyasinghe, said 1,272 people had been wounded and more than 900 were still in hospital.
The 200 kg (440 lb) truck bomb was aimed at the central bank in what officials said was an attack on the Sri Lankan economy.
Some of the surrounding buildings were still smouldering yesterday and it was only by midmorning that firemen put out several small fires burning at the crumpled three tower central bank building.
Mr Peiris acknowledged there could be short term adverse effects on the economy, but added: "Potential investors should see that the government has a coherent strategy to deal with the problem, that we can overcome the problem and create a climate of confidence."
The central bank managed to resume cheque clearing at a nearby bank, but the local money market was closed and foreign exchange dealing, done through the central bank, was limited, officials said. The nearby stock exchange, slightly damaged in the blast, opened briefly.
Criminal Investigation Department officials said they had identified three members of an LTTE hit squad which carried out one of the most powerful bomb attacks ever on Colombo. They said two men, captured along with automatic rifles, bomb making kits and radio transmitters, had identified themselves only as "Ragunathan" and "Kutti".
The officials said the two men identified the suicide bomber who drove the truck into the Central Bank as "Raj". Security forces were still searching for other hit squad members.
Sri Lanka's crucial tourism industry, already struggling due to the country's protracted ethnic war, will suffer more losses after this bomb, tour operators and industry officials said yesterday.