Colombo: Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said today's bomb attack on a bus which killed 26 people was a "brazen" demonstration of the LTTE's "commitment to terrorism" carried out to coincide with the abrogation of the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement.

"This is a brazen demonstration to the whole world of its (LTTE) 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," Rajapakse said in a statement.

The President issue the message after a claymore mine ripped through a bus in Buttala in the south-east, killing at least 26 people and injuring 64 others. The government today formally ended a tattered ceasefire agreement reached with the Tamil rebels in 2002.

"This (attack) could be to show Sri Lankans and the world that it is the decision of the government to abrogate the Ceasefire Agreement that is the immediate cause for this carnage caused by it (LTTE)," Rajapakse said. It appears that this attack has been carried out to coincide with the abrogation of the CFA, Rajapakse said.

"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," he added.

The president expressed condolence to the families of those killed in the bus attack, and urged citizens to remain calm and be vigilant in the face of provocation by "terrorists".

Source : PTI