A suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber blew herself up in a packed railway station in the Sri Lankan capital Colombo on Sunday, killing 11 people and wounding 92, the military said.The blast, on the eve of ceremonies to mark the troubled Indian Ocean island nation’s 60th anniversary of independence from former colonial ruler Britain, came hours after a crude bomb went off in a zoo in the capital, wounding four visitors.The government pinned both attacks on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has been widely criticised by the international community for abandoning the truce pact and carrying out a string of offensives following a series of Tiger attacks.Rajapaksa is due to oversee a demonstration of military might in the capital on Monday, when tanks and thousands of troops will parade, fighter jets will fly overhead and attack boats sail by to mark Independence Day.Local television showed footage of bodies lying in pools of blood. One young man’s body was torn apart by the blast. Four compartments of a train at the island’s main railway station were badly damaged. Military officials said the suicide bomber may have come to the capital intending to target a VIP, but panicked when she saw security checks being carried out and instead tried to kill as many civilians as possible. Hospital authorities said a 12-year-old girl was among the dead. Transport Minister Dallas Alahapperuma, visiting the scene, said security at railway stations would be increased. “We are at the last stage of the war. So we have to expect more than this,” he said.Hours before the railway station bombing, a crude bomb went off in a zoo, wounding four visitors. No animals were hurt in the blast near a bird enclosure.
