Sri Lanka's state and private sector transport authorities Sunday said that strict security measures are to be conducted following two bus bomb blasts which killed 17 passengers.

 

P. A Premasiri, General Manager of Railways, said that all passengers embarking trains would be subject to security checks. "We may even interrupt long distance trains at certain random points for safety checks", he added.

 

Gemunu Wijeratne, President of the Private Bus Owners' Association, said that all their crews would be advised to be extra vigilant for unattended and suspicious packages.

 

In the first passenger bus blast on Friday on the main Colombo- Kandy highway killed 6 persons while the Saturday's blast on the Colombo-Galle highway along the southern coast killed 11 people.

 

Over 100 people were injured in the two blasts. The defense authorities have blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for both attacks but the rebels denied the responsibility.

 

Some 3,800 people have been killed in the escalation of the armed conflicts in the north and eastern provinces since December 2005.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 8, 2007)