Blast in Sri Lanka capital Colombo

May 31, 2008 (LBO) – An explosion in a southern suburb of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo around 9.00 pm local time Saturday has left several persons injured, the military and witnesses said. Tamil Tigers have been waging a separatist war for more than three decades and authorities have blamed the group for a series of explosions, some using suicide attacks in the southern part of Sri Lanka.

Updated Military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said a hand grenade had exploded in the Wellawatte area.

A LBO correspondent at the scene said the blast had gone off near a bus stop at the Vihara Mawatha junction in Wellawatte close to Rajasinghe Mawatha off Galle Road.

It was close to the scene of an earlier explosion where a concealed bomb went off in the middle of Galle Road, the correspondent said.

Wellawatte has a high concentration of ethnic Tamils and has also been the scene of killings in a turf war between Tamil Tiger rebels and a breakaway faction.