Colombo: A powerful land mine ripped through a bus packed with commuters and schoolchildren in northern Sri Lanka on Thursday, killing at least 62 people, the army said.
Sri Lanka's air force responded by bombing rebel-held areas in the northeast.
The explosion, described as 'huge' by military spokesman Brig Prasad Samarasinghe, was the worst single act of violence since the Government and Tigers signed a cease-fire in 2002, and it renewed fears of a return to war.
Samarasinghe blamed the Tigers, saying their "motive is to create terror."
The militants could not immediately be reached for comment, although they routinely deny involvement in attacks on civilians.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fought for 20 years to carve out a separate homeland in Sri Lanka's north and east.
The majority of Sri Lankans are Sinhalese, most of whom are Buddhists.
A 2002 cease-fire ended large-scale fighting, but violence has persisted, intensifying in recent months, including rebel attacks on civilians.
But Thursday's violence dwarfed recent attacks, and a doctor at the hospital where the victims bodies were taken, S B Bothota, said that 15 school children were among the 58 killed.
Another 78 people were wounded by the blast, which also hit bystanders in a crowded part of Kabithigollewa, a town in the northern Anuradhapura district.
The town is near the northeastern districts of Vavuniya and Trincomalee, flashpoints for violence in recent months between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan military.
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