Bus explosion kills 24, injures 66 in Sri Lanka

Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said a civilian bus was attacked by a Claymore mine at about 7:45 a.m. (0215 GMT) in Okkampitiya, about 240 km southeast of Colombo, adding that many of the casualties were school children.
The rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been blamed for the explosion by the government.
The Defense Ministry said all the schools in the Uva Province, where Okkampitiya is located, have been closed for three days with effect from Wednesday.
Shortly after the bus attack, an Army vehicle was caught in a Claymore mine in the same district around 9:45 a.m. (0415 GMT), with four soldiers being injured.
The two blasts occurred as the government`s decision to withdraw from the ceasefire agreement with the LTTE would take effect on Wednesday.
Claiming discrimination at the hands of the Sinhala majority, the LTTE has been fighting the government since the mid-1980s to establish a separate homeland for the minority Tamils in the north and east.
The Sri Lankan government has reiterated its commitment to a political solution amid rising concerns from the West over its recent withdrawal from a troubled ceasefire.
Government officials on Sunday cited the Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama as saying that although the government had taken a decision to withdraw from ceasefire, it had not given up plans to introduce a political package as