Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka have destroyed a school bus for the second day running near the northern town of Vavuniya.
Police said the rebels ordered the passengers off the bus before setting it on fire, as they had done to another bus in a nearby area on Thursday.
Police said they didn't have a motive but a government spokesman, Ariya Rubasinghe, said the attack had been carried out to force schools to close so that the rebels could recruit children.
The Tigers have been criticised by human rights groups for forcibly recruiting children into their ranks, some as young as ten. At the same time, police in Colombo said they had arrested a suspected Tamil Tiger suicide bomber who had cyanide capsules in his possession.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
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International LTTE rebels blast bus Colombo, July 20. (UNI): Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels exploded a bus after disembarking all passengers in northern Vavuniya today while twelve terrorists were killed in sporadic clashes with security forces in Sri Lanka's northern Jaffna peninsula during the last 24 hours. The bus carrying 19 passengers and some schoolchildren were proceeding from the main Vavuniya bus depot to a nearby place when terrorists stopped the bus and asked the passengers to get down. Thereafter, the bus was exploded. In another incident in Jaffna, an ex-LTTE member was shot dead while he was collecting funds for his personal use. Emanuvel Devaranjan Rajakulanthan (26) was shot dead by an unknown gunman when he was travelling with his mother in Nelliadi town. It was later revealed that Rajakulanthan, an ex-LTTE member, was collecting funds for his personal use. Two civilians were injured in an anti-personnel mine explosion in Katkovalam in Point Pedro. A Government Information Directorate statement said five terrorists were killed in Colombuthurai and another five in Welioya, while two were killed at Nagarkovil.
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