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| Sri Lanka suicide bomb 'kills 12' | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| At least 12 people have been killed and many more wounded in a suicide bombing in Sri Lanka's northern town of Vavuniya, police say. | |
| A man on a motorcycle reportedly detonated explosives in front of a police office in the town, 250km (120 miles) from the capital Colombo. | A man on a motorcycle reportedly detonated explosives in front of a police office in the town, 250km (120 miles) from the capital Colombo. |
| The area has been sealed off and the injured have been taken to hospital. | |
| It is not clear who carried out the attack but suspicion has fallen on Tamil Tiger rebels. | |
| The rebels have been blamed for a recent series of bombings in Sri Lanka. | |
| School children were among around 40 victims being treated for their wounds after Monday's attack, hospital officials said. | |
| Intense fighting | |
| There has been intense fighting between the rebels and the army in the north of the island over the last month. | |
| The military is carrying out an offensive which it says is aimed at crushing the rebels by the end of this year. | |
| Troops drove the Tamil Tigers from strongholds in the east last year. | |
| Both sides in the war in the north claim to have inflicted heavy casualties on the other in recent weeks. | |
| It is impossible to verify either account because the government bars journalists from the frontline areas. | |
| Tamil Tiger rebels have also been blamed for a spate of recent bomb attacks in and around Colombo, mainly targeting buses and trains. | |
| Dozens have been killed and many more wounded. | |
| The rebels have accused the military of the roadside bombings which have killed many civilians in the rebel-held north. The government has denied the allegations. | |
| Sri Lanka's civil war has intensified since the government formally ended a ceasefire with the rebels in January. In practice, the truce had been dead for months. | |
| The rebels have fought for a generation for an independent state for the Tamil minority in the island's north and east. | |
| About 70,000 people have been killed since the civil war began in 1983. |