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Tigers hit back as suicide bomber kills 28
WSN Network 

COLOMBO: A female Tamil Tiger suicide bomber hiding among people fleeing Sri Lanka's war blew herself up Monday, killing at least 28 civilians and soldiers and wounding 90, the military said.

The blast happened near Vishvamadu, a town in the north of the Indian Ocean island recently captured by soldiers battling to crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) separatists and end a 25-year-old war.

The United States in a statement condemned it as "an apparent effort to discourage Tamils from leaving the conflict area." The military said it was the third suicide attack in a week.

Underscoring the challenge the military faces in separating combatants from civilians as the exodus of refugees picks up, officials said the bomber was in a group of people being checked for weapons by soldiers when she set off the bomb.

The rate of civilians fleeing fighting between the military and the cornered LTTE has picked up sharply this week, with at least 17,300 escaping LTTE-held areas since Thursday -- out of at least 21,627 so far this year, according to military tallies.

11 February 2009
 

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