Be resolute and calm in face of provocation - President

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who has unequivocally condemned the LTTE's savage attacks on a civilian bus at Buttala and a village Okkampitiya, has called on the people of Sri Lanka to be vigilant in the face of provocation by terrorists, remain calm, and assist the security forces in their efforts to eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka.

The President states: This further act of savagery on the part of the LTTE should attract to it the opprobrium of all in Sri Lanka and abroad concerned about safeguarding democracy and achieving peace in Sri Lanka. This is a brazen demonstration to the whole world of its unchanged commitment to terrorism and the absolute rejection of democracy and all norms of civilized behaviour, in the pursuit of its unacceptable goal of separation, which threatens the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka.

Text of the President's statement:

I unequivocally and severely condemn the explosion carried out by the LTTE at Niyadella in Buttala today, and the subsequent armed attack on the village of Dambeyaya at Okkampitiya, targeting innocent civilians including women and children, and reject with contempt the renewed message of terror and violence sent by the LTTE through these acts of unmitigated brutality.

LTTE terrorists attack civilians, killing 26 and injuring over 60

LTTE terrorists ambushed a bus carrying about 80 innocent civilians at Helagama on the Buttala- Monaragala road around 7.40a.m. (January 16). The bus that was carrying large number of schoolchildren, office workers and poor peasants was first attacked with a powerful claymore blast and then fired up on by the terrorists.

One survivor told defence.lk that the terrorists remorselessly shot at the people who were jumping out of the bus following the blast. Many women survived the bomb blast became easy targets of the terror gunmen, he added.

According to the defence.lk sources in the area , over 60 people were initially taken to Buttla hospital following the attack. 23 people among them were already dead and except six, others were transferred to Monaragala hospital. Among the six remaining at the Buttla hospital, there are two children at the ages of 2 years and one month. According to the hospital sources, the mother of the two children was killed in the attack. There are 13 females and 10 males among the dead at the hospital, sources added.

According to the sources in Monaragala hospital 44 people were initially admitted. Two of them succumbed to the injuries while five were airlifted to National hospital Colombo. There are two schoolchildren and two infants at the ages 3 and 4 years among the wounded, the sources added.

Dr. Hector Weerasighe, the director of the National Hospital told defence.lk that one of the five victims airlifted to Colombo succumbed to the injuries. Other four including a 14-year-old schoolchild are presently being treated at the intensive care unit, he added.

LTTE is a ruthless terrorist outfit that has been fighting for mono ethnic separate homeland for Tamils since 1983. The outfit led by its psychopathic leader V. Prbhakaran is notorious for crimes against women and children. During its three decades of terror campaign against Sri Lankan citizens the outfit has killed and maimed over tens and thousands innocent children in ethnic cleansing raids, indiscriminate bomb attacks and by using child soldiers at the battlefronts. The FBI in its recent report called LTTE as the deadliest terrorist outfit in the world. According to the report, "it's not al Qaeda or Hezbollah or even HAMAS" but the group is called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) or the Tamil Tigers for short is the deadliest and most dangerous terrorists outfit in the world.

However, many defence observers in Sri Lanka say that LTTE has built its "deadly" image through henoius crimes against soft targets as women, children and unsuspecting civilians. During the last two year alone, when the CFA was still in operation, LTTE killed more than 4000 people.