COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- A bomb blast on a busy Colombo street killed a least 18 people and wounded more than 40 during the evening rush hour on Friday, Sri Lankan police and hospital sources said.
Many of the wounded were in critical condition in hospital and fatalities were likely to rise, they said.Initial reports said a vehicle had exploded. But some witnesses said there could have been two explosions triggered by suspected Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) suicide bombers.
The attack occurred in the Borella area on a route to parliament where lawmakers were meeting for a monthly vote on extending the state of national emergency and to discuss the defence ministry budget.
The road was littered with the wreckage of several cars lying in glass shards. Some of the vehicles were peppered with shrapnel holes.
Military helicopters with searchlights hovered over the area, which had been cordoned off by hundreds of security forces.
The government and main opposition party are currently discussing constitutional reform proposals the government plans to present to the LTTE to end the long ethnic war.
Norway is playing the role of a facilitator in an attempt to bring the government and rebels to the negotiating table.
Police had yet to confirm the exact sequence of events, but many of the wounded were passengers in a bus near the explosion site.
A police officer at the blast site said at least three policemen had been killed in the explosion and witnesses said they had heard gunfire from the area.
Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte and several high ranking police and military officials were in parliament at the time of the explosion.
Ratwatte, who is leading Sri Lanka's war effort against the LTTE, is a prime target of the rebels.
Witnesses said roads had been closed and there were massive traffic jams.
There were no claims of responsibility for the explosion, but previous bomb blasts have been blamed on the LTTE, who have been fighting since 1983 for a separate homeland for minority Tamils in the island's north and east.
Nearly 60,000 people have been killed in the fighting.
In January, at least 13 people were killed when a suspected LTTE woman suicide bomber blew herself up in front of the prime minister's office.
She was not in the office at the time.