(Agencies)
Updated: 2008-01-16 15:20

COLOMBO -- A bomb tore through a Sri Lankan bus packed with schoolchildren killing 23 people and wounding dozens on Wednesday, the military said, as a 6-year ceasefire formally expires between the government and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sri Lankan policemen conduct a search operation in Colombo, January 15, 2008. [Agencies]

The Ministry of Defence said a large number of schoolchildren were on the bus at the time of the blast in the central district of Moneragala, around 150 miles (240 km) east of the capital Colombo.

Schools in the surrounding province of Uva were temporarily closed following the attack which the military blamed on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

A second blast targeted an army armoured personnel carrier 12 miles (20 km) south of the first attack, wounding three soldiers, the military said.

"Twenty-three people were killed and 67 wounded (in the bus attack)," said military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara. "They are all civilians."

"The terrorists were desperate in that area and are now targeting civilians."

The blast in the town of Buttala in the central district of Moneragala was the latest in a series of roadside bomb attacks blamed on the rebels, who are fighting to create an independent state in the island's north and east.

The LTTE were not immediately available for comment on the blast, which bore the hallmarks of previous rebel attacks, but routinely deny involvement.

A 2002 ceasefire, which broke down on the ground two years ago, formally ends later on Wednesday after President Mahinda Rajapaksa's government announced a fortnight ago it was scrapping the pact, triggering fears that the fighting will deepen.

The government argues the rebels simply used the peace pact, to buy time to regroup and rearm and that they were not sincere about talking peace.

Nordic truce monitors said both sides had repeatedly violated the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

Around 70,000 people have been killed since the war erupted in 1983, and the toll climbs daily.

The scrapping of the truce has shocked the international community and is seen ruining any hope of resurrecting peace talks any time soon. And with the truce monitors forced to wrap up their mission and leave the island too, many fear human rights abuses will mushroom.

Sri Lanka's main donor Japan warned on Tuesday it would review millions of dollars in aid following the scrapping of the ceasefire.