Nine people were killed and 73 more wounded last week when a powerful bomb ripped through a packed passenger train in the suburbs of the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo.
The blast, which occurred at about 5 pm near the suburban Dehiwala railway station, was triggered by a parcel bomb kept in the fourth compartment of the Colombo - Panadura train carrying passengers on their way back home after their day's work in office. State television said around 200 people were on board the train at the time of the attack.
The island's military spokesman, Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, blamed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the attack and said a pregnant woman was among those killed.
Commuter Ramani Padmalatha, 42, told French news agency AFP that the train suddenly slowed after a "deafening noise".
"People were shouting 'bomb, bomb!' and scrambling to get out of the windows of the carriage... I managed to jump out from the door. People were stumbling out of that carriage with blood stains on their clothes, some with burns, some looking dazed," she said.
Eyewitness R A Upali told the BBC Sinhala service the explosion took place as the train was pulling out of the station.
"I ran to the place where the explosion happened. I saw people fall on the platform. People with minor injuries ran towards us."
The train compartment's windows were blown out and part of its roof was torn off in the blast, which left bloodstained bags and umbrellas strewn among the debris.
The blast came a day after the government issued emergency warnings to the public to be vigilant about unclaimed parcels and packages.
Nayanakkara said: “The alert had been issued after the police and the military defused two powerful bombs in Colombo district on Saturday. The bombs had been planted in two buses.”
On Monday evening, however, the parcel in the train went unnoticed. The train had left the Maradana railway station and was about to enter Dehiwala when the explosion occurred. Following the blast, train services were disrupted for hours on the route.
Monday's blast comes three days after the LTTE blamed government forces for an explosion which killed a group of people in Tiger-controlled territory.
