The government condemned the brutal attack on two passenger buses in Meetiyagoda on the Colombo–Galle highway yesterday and in Nittambuwa on Friday which has killed over 20 and injured around 75 civilians.

The government extends its deep sorrow to the relatives of the dead and wish the injured a speedy recovery, an official news release said.

The government believes that the LTTE is attempting to divert attention from the continuous defeats they have been suffering at the hands of the security forces during the recent past. At a moment when the security forces are successfully carrying out counter terrorist measures to restore civil administration in the North and East, the LTTE has resorted to engage in terror attacks in the south in a bid to disrupt normalcy, it said.

The government reiterates that terror attacks will not deter its efforts to find a peaceful solution to the National problem or its counter terrorism masseurs to defeat terrorism. LTTE’s terror attacks will only strengthen the governments’ resolve to defeat terrorism and restore normalcy in the North and East, the release noted.