Suicide blast kills 28 at Sri Lanka refugee camp

COLOMBO: A female Tamil Tiger suicide bomber killed 28 people on Monday at a camp for civilians who have fled Sri Lanka's ethnic war, the military said, as the rebels faced imminent defeat.

The bomber detonated her explosives as she was being searched by women soldiers outside the camp near Visuamadu, a northern area the military recently captured from the rebels, military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said.

"Twenty soldiers including three women soldiers were killed," he said. "Another eight civilians were killed and 40 civilians were wounded." Dozens of injured troops were also rushed to hospital.

Nanayakkara blamed the attack on Tamil Tiger rebels, whose decades-long armed campaign for an independent homeland has recently suffered huge territorial losses as a result of a major army offensive.

"This attack is aimed at slowing down the army's advance," Nanayakkara told reporters here. He added that the Tigers were trying to discourage civilians from crossing over to government-held areas.

The United Nations and the US government condemned the attack. "Those killed had already been forced from their homes by fighting, and had endured terrible hardships," the UN said in a statement.

"The UN reiterates that civilians must be distinguished from combatants, and protected from the fighting. "It calls once again on the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) to separate its forces from civilians under its control."